A state-subsidized investment program yielded huge returns for three out-of-state financial firms and their partners while netting just 202 new jobs for Wisconsin, at a cost of more than $247,000 per job, a Journal Sentinel analysis has found.
The investment firms, called CAPCOs, were far more successful at making money for their owners and partners than they were at launching start-ups and creating jobs. They paid millions to cover their owners' taxes on profits. They didn't share any of those investment profits with the state. And they didn't have to, because the program was poorly drafted and had minimal state oversight, the Journal Sentinel found.
Despite the program's poor performance, state elected officials have been lobbied to revive CAPCO investing on a much larger scale. The firms spent $250,000 last year lobbying in Madison - and a group of Assembly Republicans, with support from Speaker Jeff Fitzgerald (R-Horicon), has been reluctant to leave them out of a proposed state program to fund new companies.
To read the full, original article click on this link: State spends millions for 202 new jobs - JSOnline
