South Carolina's Crony Capitalist Culture Continues To Fail Taxpayers – FITSNews

Looks like yet another ‘economic development’ deal is going south…

South Carolina’s crony capitalist approach to “economic development” is staring down yet another costly setback as AESC – a Japanese-owned electric vehicle battery manufacturer – has paused construction on its $1.6 billion facility in Florence, S.C.

“AESC has informed the state of South Carolina and our local partners that due to policy and market uncertainty, we are pausing construction at our South Carolina facility at this time,” the company noted in a statement. “We anticipate being able to resume construction once circumstances stabilize.”

The company broke ground on its 1.5 million-square foot facility less than two years ago, an event its leaders hailed as “a landmark moment in the evolution of South Carolina’s rapidly expanding electric vehicle industry.”

AESC’s Florence plant was supposed to create more than 1,620 jobs – although as we note often here at FITSNews, such rosy projections associated with taxpayer-funded handouts rarely pan out.

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When this deal was authorized in 2022, state taxpayers shelled out more than $255 million in subsidies – not counting recurring job development tax credits. Local subsidies pushed the tab even higher – to more than $400 million. An additional $111 million was earmarked for a second AESC facility, but that project was recently folded into the first plant.

“I look forward to the transformative impact that AESC’s historic investments will have on not only the Pee Dee but all of South Carolina,” governor Henry McMaster said at the time the incentives were approved.

The governor – who has presided over numerous other crony capitalist failures – offered similarly lofty rhetoric at the groundbreaking of the plant in June of 2023.

“Today, South Carolina is proud to celebrate AESC as the company embarks on a historic chapter in our state,” McMaster said. “Florence County has been ripe for an investment of this magnitude — one that will transform local communities and create generational wealth for South Carolinians. The groundbreaking for AESC’s battery cell gigafactory is a landmark moment in the evolution of South Carolina’s rapidly expanding electric vehicle industry.”

Was it, though? This project is now officially without a timeline while taxpayers are, once again, left holding the bag.

When will the next domino fall? It might be sooner than you think…

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RELATED | MORE PROBLEMS FOR VOLVO IN SOUTH CAROLINA

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As noted just last week in the aftermath of yet another corporate welfare fail, FITSNews has nothing but contempt for government-subsidized economic development (a.k.a. crony capitalism).

“We reject crony capitalist handouts on principle,” our outlet wrote back in 2015. “They are patently unfair, and South Carolina’s escalating use of them to reward favored corporations at the expense of small businesses and taxpayers is killing our state’s consumer economy.”

As crony capitalist schemes like these keep escalating, South Carolina continues to lag behind the rest of the nation in jobs and income growth.

When will the state’s “Republican” leaders try something different? How many more of these command economic failures is it going to take for them to finally learn their lesson?

Count on FITSNews to keep our audience in the loop regarding the status of these projects… and to keep holding accountable those responsible for these failures.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…

Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.

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