The Republicans running things announced last week that they are locating a $15 billion steel mill in Southeast Iowa, near Keokuk and Fort Madison in hard-pressed Lee County. Knowing next to nothing except that they are facing a drubbing in November, the politicians flocked to Des Moines last Friday to approve $1.5 billion in state tax credits, for starters.
These people are not conservative. They are taking our money to spend on a company that has ties to the Russian oil complex. There was a time when this would be astonishing. No more. This outfit went bankrupt. It made promises it could not keep with Minnesota. Arkansas reportedly turned it down.
Senate Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dan Dawson, R-Council Bluffs, called the legislative package the “largest corporate giveaway in the state of Iowa’s history.”
“Incentives are supposed to make a good deal better, not a bad deal good,” Dawson said. “So to all my colleagues, I know you’ve been put in a difficult position. And you’ve been put into this position by people and entities who, frankly, do not care. If they did, you wouldn’t be jammed with this bill in front of you today.”
Lee County officials were not clued in. What about roads? How much will that cost property taxpayers? We have not heard. Electric rates? A steel mill burns more kilowatts than a data center. Air pollution? Iowa already has frighteningly high lung cancer rates from fine particulates we are breathing.
It might all be worth it if there are 1,700 permanent jobs paying $50 per hour. You cannot know. No guarantees were made to labor unions for representation. Promises made within a month of an election should be consumed with a ton of salt.
It was all in such a rush. A lobbyist contacted the governor’s office. The normal process was bypassed. President Trump broke the news. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick called it a “done deal.” Except that it is not. Barge facilities and heavier rail have not been laid. Property has not been purchased, to our understanding.
Politicians say there will be clawbacks. How do you claw back from a bankruptcy? They say that the tax credits will have to be earned by proof of operation. First, you must build those rail and barge facilities. That will take public funding, count on it. It will be like pulling teeth to get railroad cross arms. The county will get the dust complaints. That will lead to more road expense. Bank on it.
It might be great. Bunches of new people will move in. Keokuk cannot house them. Labor is scarce. The Case plant at Burlington shut down. This steel plant will not open until at least 2030 (its Minnesota mine has been delayed). Labor must be moved in. That could spark new life in the region. It will require a lot more housing for which funding is scarce.
All of which suggests that this deal is far from done.
Lee County might be a better place for grain and food processing than milling steel. There’s a reason steel mills are located along the Great Lakes. Gary, Ind., is a better location with existing infrastructure. For lack of information, it defies understanding why we should subsidize a foreign company with state tax dollars when our streets and highways are in disrepair. They will not be made better by the presence of a foreign wealth extractor. We do not understand why we subsidize corporate water rates locally. It is not fair that local funds are used for regional projects, or state funds for international players.
Then there is the problem of honesty and trust. President Trump has been convicted of fraud. He will do anything to win. He arranged this deal knowing that he desperately needs Republican Ashley Hinson to win that US Senate race over Democrat Josh Turek. Gov. Reynolds does not want to be remembered as posting the worst economic performance for the state in decades. Look! Here is a bright, shiny steel mill! And no labor unions!
Trump is known to announce huge projects that never come to fruition. Iowa could not wait to jump, perhaps into a huge slag pit. We could be taken for hayseeds. Or it could be peaches and cream, just like that nearby fertilizer plant owned by Koch that was supposed to help farmers.
It was rash of the legislature to give away so much in just a day, with a week’s notice. It smacks of socialism — the government picking winners and losers. So much about this deal remains under wraps. Is it done, or is it not? Why can’t capitalists from India pay their own way if this is such a beautiful thing? Because it is all about politics which, as we know, can be fleeting. Conservatives used to be fiscal hawks. How quaint the memory. Republicans used to hold the line on state welfare. They just gave away $1.5 billion to a foreign company when we have a $1.5 billion state budget deficit and are laying off teachers.
The public deserved to know the facts before the legislature created this welfare scheme for a company with a record worthy of at least healthy skepticism.
The sky is not falling. No problem confronts us that we cannot solve. Artificial intelligence could wipe out humankind if we are not careful. We should take care, get together and figure out how to keep reins on it. AI nerds say the threat is real. Regulation is required, just like having speed limits on the road. A few mishaps have highlighted the urgency that is not necessarily shared by the titans of the digital age. A little socialism is in order to reel them in.
If AI doesn’t kill you the weather might. A warming planet immediately threatens food security and agricultural productivity. High beef prices are just one result. Climate impacts are real, so we should be sensible. More wind turbines and solar panels in Northwest Iowa are a good bet to make money and keep the planet habitable. The science says climate change is not a hoax. Science can tell us how to keep ourselves in food, water and mobility if we play it smart. All the answers are in Ames, if we listen.
Overwhelmed people don’t want to listen. They are bombarded with doom. You would rather dwell on Iowa State’s remarkable assemblage of a football team beating West Virginia. We did. We saw one of those taxpayer-paid ads deifying Trump and thought: At least the Vikings are up on the Dolphins, and the White Sox are alive in October. Nonstop attack ads say that the chaos is at your doorstep. People would just as soon tune out and have faith that it will work out, or that there is nothing you can do but have a good time.
You could simply walk away from the lying liars. A whole lot of folks gave up a long time ago. Social influencers are making money advising people to ignore what you think you cannot control. If you do, the big money wins. But what do you say about the fires in California and Greece, or the utter devastation in Nepal? Or punky corn in Kansas? Que sera? Do you let the tech titans let loose AI to operate us? Do you trust them to operate as they will?
Elections give us the opportunity to assert ourselves for good. We can have clean water and prosperous farms if we decide to. We can vote for more cattle on pasture. We can make decent money by generating renewable energy. We should vote for that. We can regulate fall fertilizer application to clean up our rivers. We can elect a Congress that will demand we put safety bumpers on AI. Cures for cancer await digital cogitation, if we agree to rules of the road. That is what elections are for: setting credible expectations. Register, and vote. We can control outcomes.
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