What if the competition to attract jobs is actually a system that makes communities compete against themselves?
Welcome to Crisis in Perception, where we examine the systems shaping our world.
Using The Great American Jobs Scam: Corporate Tax Dodging and the Myth of Job Creation by Greg LeRoy as our lens, this investigation examines how corporations use secrecy, relocation threats, and fragmented governments to secure taxpayer subsidies.
LeRoy argues that workforce skills, infrastructure, transportation, suppliers, and market access usually matter more to corporate location decisions than tax incentives. Yet once several viable locations have been identified, companies and site-location consultants can play jurisdictions against one another and present the resulting subsidy as the decisive cause of investment.
The deeper system combines information asymmetry, political fear, weak accountability, and a prisoners’ dilemma among governments. Public officials receive immediate credit for announcing a trophy project, while the costs of depleted budgets, failed promises, low wages, and strained public services emerge gradually.
The episode traces corporate job blackmail, manufactured bidding wars, consultant incentives, inflated employment projections, weak clawbacks, and the transfer of resources away from public goods that benefit entire communities.
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https://youtu.be/jq4kd-3anC4
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This content was created using AI-assisted tools for research synthesis, structuring, and narration support. All analysis, framing, and editorial decisions are guided by human judgment as part of the Crisis in Perception project.
