Hey Siri, show me an example of crony capitalism.
Ok, I found this on the web: Apple to build new campus in Houston in exchange for up to $25 million in taxpayer-funded grants.
Texas lawmakers just bought off the world’s largest publicly traded company. Apple will break ground on a $1 billion project to build a new 133-acre corporate campus to employ 5,000 and could expand to as many as 15,000 workers.
“Talent, creativity, and tomorrow’s breakthrough ideas aren’t limited by region or zip code,” Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO, said in a written statement to the Austin Statesman, “and, with this new expansion, we’re redoubling our commitment to cultivating the high-tech sector and workforce nationwide.”
While Cook says nice-sounding things about how the future isn’t limited by zip code, the truth is that Apple makes investments based on special tax breaks and subsidies. The company that put a supercomputer in the pocket of people the world over wants your state or local government to sweeten the pot before it commits. Never mind that you’ve created the friendly business environment Apple should want to thrive in already.
Such is the state of the economy, where somehow “pro-market” became synonymous with “pro-big-business.” One could argue that Apple is just taking advantage of the economic landscape, like corporate competitor Amazon who just announced major new hubs in Brooklyn, New York, and Alexandria, Virginia. But it’s a delusion.
Apple doesn’t need the cash. According to their third-quarter earnings reported back in July, the company has $243.7 billion in cash on hand. That’s more than the government of Texas—easily the world’s 10th largest economy on its own—plans to spend over the next two years. For 2018 and 2019, the state budgeted just shy of $217 billion.
