
OK, I admit that I don’t understand business, beyond the basics (buy cheap, sell dear).
That said, how does giving $10 million in state economic development funding to Facebook — yes, that Facebook, the one worth $350 billion — constitute good business for the state of New Mexico, which faces a projected shortfall for the current budget year of $458 million?
The deal to bring a data center to Los Lunas would also, according to the Albuquerque Journal:
• Guarantee Facebook 1.5 million gallons of water per day.
• Reimburse the sixth most valuable company in America for up to 75 percent of gross tax revenues from the center’s construction and operation.
• Waive property taxes for more than 30 years.
All for “up to” 300 construction jobs over seven years and 50 “permanent” jobs, which we know are anything but as restless gazillionaires in search of a better deal make struggling localities scrap like dumb dogs over an old bone.
As I said, I don’t understand business. And I know New Mexicans need jobs. But wouldn’t Los Lunas be better served in the long run by courting companies that love us for what we are, and might still respect us in the morning?
