http://www.arktimes.com/ArkansasBlog/archives/2013/01/29/1-billion-steel-mill-announced-for-mississippi-county Comments On: $1 billion steel mill announced for Mississippi County by Max Brantley en-us Copyright 2013 Arkansas Times. All rights reserved. This RSS file is offered to individuals, Arkansas Times readers, and non-commercial organizations only. Any commercial websites wishing to use this RSS file, please contact Arkansas Times. robert@arktimes.com (Arkansas Times Webmaster) Wed, 22 May 2013 00:00:01 -0500 Wed, 22 May 2013 19:00:00 -0500 Foundation http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Posted by Richard Rowe]]> Wed, 30 Jan 2013 14:12:17 -0600 Arkansas Times
We tend to count the chickens before we realize they roost someplace else.
Posted by YossarianMinderbinder]]> Wed, 30 Jan 2013 07:57:17 -0600 Arkansas Times Posted by NEAreader]]> Tue, 29 Jan 2013 17:55:01 -0600 Arkansas Times Posted by couldn't be better]]> Tue, 29 Jan 2013 16:37:32 -0600 Arkansas Times
"On an average, a salary is approximately 65% of total benefits, which works out, based on the $75,000 figure, to a salary of $48,750, very reasonable in relation to usual Arkansas income. "

The $75,000 discussed in this context typically means wages, overtime and bonuses. Typical workers on the floor at Nucor make $60K a year. The remaining $15K comes from averaging in the supervisory, managerial and technical personnel, who are higher paid.

In Osceola, Arkansas, that's significant money.
Posted by Bluesyoucanuse]]> Tue, 29 Jan 2013 16:36:01 -0600 Arkansas Times
Who are the bond daddies and who is behind the site prep and stabilization? Connect the
dots then do the math. (Who says the stat chamber/AIA/Zook doesn't earn its tax dollars?)

Correnti has learned politically-connected partners need to be paid up front, I'm guessing. He's legit, because his take is ONLY $50 million, and he's 'taking all the risk' (so the piddling percentage needed to get legislative backing comes out of your end, pahdnuh).

That said, I hope it's successful, assuming the state is committed. I hope for the best despite the odds.

Gotta go buy my lottery ticket now.
Posted by Bulkington]]> Tue, 29 Jan 2013 14:16:59 -0600 Arkansas Times
Global steel has a big problem: It's too big and it's getting bigger.

This year, steel mills around the world have a production capacity of 1.8 billion tons but will take orders for only 1.5 billion tons. And instead of consolidating and becoming more efficient, the industry is building still more capacity.

By 2016, an estimated 100 new mills, with total estimated supply capacity of 350 million tons, are expected to come on stream, according to industry executives and consultants. Companies in Vietnam, Argentina, Ecuador, Peru and Bolivia, all backed in some way by their governments, are building or planning new mills.

Officials in these countries say they want to invest in industrial development, supply homegrown steel to their manufacturers and cut imports. But what may appear to be welcome developments for local economies has reverberations through a global industry.

"You see people wanting to build new facilities all the time, all over the world," says Dan DiMicco, CEO of Nucor Corp., NUE -0.15% the second-biggest U.S. steelmaker, and a proponent of more consolidation.

"You can argue about what needs to happen next," said Charles Bradford, an analyst with New York-based Bradford Research Inc. "But no question: there is too much capacity."


By the way, it was DiMicco who replaced Correnti as CEO of Nucor. Both men also lived in the Blytheville area.
Posted by Lord MountBatten]]> Tue, 29 Jan 2013 13:15:07 -0600 Arkansas Times
See story below:

http://thecabin.net/stories/071005/bus_071…
Posted by Lord MountBatten]]> Tue, 29 Jan 2013 13:04:30 -0600 Arkansas Times Posted by jddoc]]> Tue, 29 Jan 2013 12:49:03 -0600 Arkansas Times
Correnti, a former Nucor executive, has had success developing steel operations in Mississippi but some of his other projects have failed. He backed a $650 million Severstal steel mill that opened in 2007 in Lowndes County, Miss. A separate silicon plant in the county lapsed when funding couldn't be arranged.

He also announced in 2008 plans for a $175 million steel rebar project at Amory, Miss. With the promise of an 80,000-square-foot facility along the Tennessee-Tombigbee River and the creation of 200 jobs. But after a celebratory groundbreaking, the project fizzled.

In Ontario, Ohio, Correnti and others promised a $275 million silicon plant that was never built, and in Stanly County, N.C., Correnti and others promoted a $300 million silicon project and 450 new jobs. After local officials bickered over the project, the deal was taken off the table in December 2011.
Posted by jrb]]> Tue, 29 Jan 2013 12:46:51 -0600 Arkansas Times Posted by Bill]]> Tue, 29 Jan 2013 12:27:02 -0600 Arkansas Times
"...that will directly employ more than 500 people with annual average compensation of $75,000 a year."

Those murky estimates always bother me when companies come a-calling to the state's coffers. The $75000 is certainly not the salary. Total compensation includes the legally-required Social Security, Medicare, unemployment insurance (both state and federal), and workers’ compensation ... and the optional insurance benefits, retirement and savings programs.

On an average, a salary is approximately 65% of total benefits, which works out, based on the $75,000 figure, to a salary of $48,750, very reasonable in relation to usual Arkansas income. Unless ....

Unless executive salaries are mixed into determining the average. Recent financial surveys found that the average CEO was paid 380 times more than the typical U.S. worker. In 1980, that multiple was 42. If executive compensation is in the mix, average worker salaries will be significantly less and start looking more like taking advantage of southerners' lower wage expectations.

What are the clawback provisions, what tax forgiveness or rebates are included, state-sponsored job training, infrastructure improvements, free public land given ... in addition to the bonds and service fees? Is there a "throwback" rule that directs that if income from a product is not taxed in the state where it is sold, it is taxed in the state where it was made? Is Big River Steel able to hide its profits out-of-state and thus able to avoid corporate tax? It's time we checked the teeth in gift horses.

As always, the Devil is in the details.
Posted by YossarianMinderbinder]]> Tue, 29 Jan 2013 12:22:42 -0600 Arkansas Times
1) How many years will it take the State of Arkansas to recover its $125 million charitable donation to these wealthy private interests assuming all the promises are kept re the number of jobs created, average wage, etc.?

2) If the above promises are not kept re number of jobs created, average wage, etc., what clawback provisions are in the agreement to protect Arkansas taxpayers?

Inquiring minds want to know who gets the gold mine and who gets the shaft in a deal like this. Or are we little people entitled to answers for those questions BEFORE we sign the dotted line and fork over our $125 million?
Posted by Sound Policy]]> Tue, 29 Jan 2013 12:21:09 -0600 Arkansas Times Posted by Cato]]> Tue, 29 Jan 2013 11:36:24 -0600 Arkansas Times
We get the gold mine and TN/KY gets the shaft!

Plus employees will be most likely to be Arkansas residents since no river crossing between Memphis or Sykeston.
Posted by Citizen1]]> Tue, 29 Jan 2013 11:31:42 -0600 Arkansas Times Posted by radical centrist]]> Tue, 29 Jan 2013 11:30:07 -0600 Arkansas Times Posted by HolyGuano]]> Tue, 29 Jan 2013 11:26:09 -0600 Arkansas Times Posted by Glen CommunityOrganizer Hooks]]> Tue, 29 Jan 2013 11:18:42 -0600 Arkansas Times