https://www.wiscontext.org/what-foxconn-means-great-lakes-co...
There's a deeper political aspect to Foxconn's presence that I can't trust. I'm from Wisconsin, and the whole Foxconn deal leaves me feeling extremely uneasy. Leaving aside the Wisconsin and USA politicians associated with the deal, Terry Guo briefly ran for president of the Republic of China. Guo and Foxconn made significant donations to UW-Madison. It smells wrong, and all the Wisconsinites I've talked to agree.
I'm glad their subsidies were slashed.
[1] https://www.gsgp.org/media/1330/great_lakes-st_lawrence_rive...
I have reservations about Foxconn too, but I’m not sure I understand why this bit is relevant. The Republic of China = Taiwan, a US ally. (Mainland China is the People’s Republic of China). This is akin to Bloomberg running for president.
Also it’s Terry Gou and not Guo.
Taiwan is a vibrant liberal democracy that feels very western. China is a fascist ethnostate.
China is threatening Taiwan's ability to self determine with military force, economic sanctions, and any other means of coercion at their disposal. China has demonstrated it's bad faith via denial of 1 country 2 systems, as well as a pineapple (miliworms) and pineapple cake (ractopamine) ban done clearly in bad faith (not for the reason stated).
The equivalence you have made is absolutely false. The relationship between Taiwan and China, the relationship between foxconn and china, and the releationship between Terry, the KMT, China, and the US, are all quite complicated.
Above it was claimed that Foxconn/Terry are Taiwanese and therefore American Allies, but Foxconn's business is primarily conducted in China and the KMT are definitely the party that China is aiming to corrupt Taiwan's leadership through. It's complicated.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Gou#Political_career
To say Foxconn is complicated would be an understatement.
Desalination costs less than 0.1 cents per liter, so that sets a pretty firm price cap on the cost of water.
e.g. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S00119...
"current [published in 2008] large-scale desalination plants are capable of producing water in the range of $0.50–$2.00/m3"
0.1 cents per liter is cost prohibitive for use cases where water is typically measured by the acre-foot.
For example, the Foxconn plant is on a particular tract of land only partially within the Lake Michigan watershed. Anyone living within the watershed must return their water, and it must be cleaned up first. My understanding of the Great Lakes Compact is that Foxconn's land is one of legal ambiguity, that they may draw from Lake Michigan but not return it. I sure hope it doesn't mean they can bottle up Lake Michigan water and ship it elsewhere, but water is set to be more valuable than oil, so I bet they're playing it strategically.