MILWAUKEE – With Lake Michigan shimmering in the background as they stood inside the Milwaukee Art Museum, Gov. Scott Walker and Foxconn founder Terry Gou sealed a historic deal for Wisconsin’s economy Thursday.
The reasons why a mid-sized, Midwest state won the competition to land North America’s first liquid crystal display plant – and the 13,000 direct jobs that will come with it – have much less to do with Wisconsin’s offer of financial incentives than with its other tangible and intangible assets.
Since the Foxconn talks began to surface in public talks in June, speculation centered on how Wisconsin might attract the Taiwanese electronics giant if it came down to a bidding war with much larger states such as Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas.
