North Carolina taxpayers will be forced to subsidize an “immoral” company reaping “windfall profits.”
That’s the conclusion one could easily make in response to this announcement from the Governor’s office showing Gov. Perdue’s continued commitment to further politicize our economy.
Gov. Bev Perdue today announced that Fiserv Inc., (NASDAQ: FISV), a leading global provider of financial services technology solutions and Fortune 500 company, will expand its presence in the state by opening a new location in Catawba County. The company will create 419 jobs and invest $4.9 million in Hickory during the next three years. The announcement was made possible in part by an $800,000 grant from the One North Carolina Fund.
Translation: taxpayers will foot the bill for an $800,000 bribe to a company raking in nearly $5 billion in revenue last year – a bribe that also serves as a very expensive press release intended to make it appear as though the Governor is “creating jobs.”
Moreover, a look at Fiserv’s 2008 annual report reveals a profit margin that year of 12%. Compare that to the 9% profit margin in 2008 of Exxon Mobil – a leading target of “windfall profits” propositions. Fiserv’s profit margin is also more than twice that of the highest rate of return earned by a health insurance company (5.4%) last year – and the health insurance profit margins have been attacked as “immoral” and “obscene” by the likes of Nancy Pelosi.
The hypocrisy of demonizing the profits of some companies while subsidizing a company earning even higher profit margins is what is truly obscene.
Will anyone ask Gov. Perdue how she justifies doling out taxpayer dollars for corporate welfare to a company earning substantially higher returns than those “immoral” and “obscene” evil-doers in big oil and big health insurance?
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