{"id":19324,"date":"2020-04-14T13:55:03","date_gmt":"2020-04-14T18:55:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thebozho.com\/?p=19324"},"modified":"2020-04-22T13:21:11","modified_gmt":"2020-04-22T18:21:11","slug":"foxconn-still-foxconning-the-verge-april-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thebozho.com\/foxconn-still-foxconning-the-verge-april-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"Hey, remember Foxconn? LOL"},"content":{"rendered":"

Remember Foxconn? I know we all have a lot on our minds currently, but now\u2019s as good a time as any to revisit the state\u2019s Faustian bargain<\/a> with the Taiwanese tech company.<\/p>\n

Last April<\/a>, Foxconn made headlines for its \u201cinnovation centers\u201d throughout Wisconsin. However, there was no innovating going on. Buildings in Madison, Milwaukee, Green Bay and Eau Claire just sat empty or temporarily occupied, waiting for the shadowy corporation to give them purpose.<\/p>\n

One year later, two remain empty. The others still house the banks that were there when Foxconn bought them. And there\u2019s radio silence from the company.<\/p>\n

In a companion to the expose he wrote last year,<\/a> The Verge<\/em>\u2019s Josh Dzieza, along with Nilay Patel, has revisited Foxconn<\/strong><\/a> with depressingly predictable results. The company still doesn\u2019t seem to know what to do with the unoccupied centers, despite assurances that something<\/em> is planned. (Conversely, construction on Foxconn\u2019s Racine plant was deemed \u201cessential\u201d during Safer at Home<\/a>, and it plans to open in May.) But until people start moving in, such promises are as empty as One West Main here in Madison.<\/p>\n

Cue Michael Bluth opening a bag labeled dead dove<\/em>: \u201cI don\u2019t know what I expected.<\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n