[smt88]

> Mount Pleasant WI is not rural

I think you're right. I was responding to someone saying they are "country" people.

> I doubt Mount Pleasant WI is dying.

Milwaukee's metro area (which includes Mount Pleasant and Racine, the places most closely tied to Foxconn's scam) has seen a massive decline in manufacturing:

> "The Great Recession hit Milwaukee’s manufacturing industry especially hard, and the city continues to have discomfiting employment statistics..."[1].

Broad economic numbers aren't great for Racine County as far as I can tell. They're worse than the US overall. Even if they were great, we know from examples across the US that declining blue-collar jobs may be especially painful for the non-urban electorate -- people who influence the local officials who believe the wishful nonsense Foxconn peddles.

> "'This area desperately needs the investment. There's nothing here anymore,' said Tom Johnston, a 54-year-old veteran of [Racine's] once-vaunted manufacturing sector."[2]

1. https://www.badgerinstitute.org/Reports/2013/A-Fresh-Take-on...

2. https://www.washingtonpost.com/national/as-the-economy-teete...

[jlaurend]

Oh, I agree with your post and appreciate you adding real substance to this thread. I'd say the area's in "decline" as opposed to "dying" but that may be splitting hairs. I do think "dying" implies that there's no hope for revival. Like it's some remote coal town that lives or dies by that single industry. Sure yeah, the manufacturing industry is not doing well here and Racine has fared particularly poorly. That made Mount Pleasant vulnerable to Foxconn but is only one part of the story. There's a lot of political nuance when it comes to Wisconsin and Milwaukee. This deal wasn't getting done without the state government backing it no matter how naive or desperate one municipality was. My point is that it's far more likely corruption or even just normal political incentives drove this deal as opposed to stupidity.