Kroger is one of America's largest, most profitable grocery chains, with $2b in profits in 2019. Ohio just gave it a 15-year, 75% tax subsidy in exchange for locating some data centers in the state. Pat Garofalo offers some sharp comments on the deal.
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Data center subsidies are the ultimate sucker-bet. States and cities that subsidize data-centers to get local jobs end up spending $2 million (up to $6m!) PER JOB. Data centers are expensive but they also employ very few people, after all.
https://boondoggle.substack.com/p/facebook-and-the-data-center-scam
Now, you may be asking yourself, wait, why does a grocery chain - even one with $2B/year in profits - need a pair of data centers? Groceries are a data-intensive business, but they're not THAT data-intensive.
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The answer: Kroger's starting a "ghost kitchen" sideline. That's when giant corporations set up predatory sweatshops in shipping containers where employees (misclassified as contractors) earn sub-minimum-wage pennies to produce delivery meals.
https://pluralistic.net/2020/09/19/we-are-beautiful/#man-in-the-middle
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The Ohio taxpayers - including restaurants that will be driven out of business by this subsidy - are footing the bill for it.
The sadists of China's Cultural Revolution would execute your dad and send you a bill for the bullet. In America, we're much more genteel.
eof/