With his offer of a $20 million incentive package, George Pataki has put his best foot forward in an attempt to prevent Delphi’s departure from the Empire State. The powers-that-be would like all to believe this endeavor shows a genuine concern for the general well being of Delphi and its employees, and is being done from the kindness of Albany’s heart. Truth be told, this package is not entirely an act of kindness, but is instead a cover-up. It is a means to make amends for the poor business climate that has been created by Albany’s legislative machine through the years.

The items given away in the package were requested by Delphi upper management in an effort to rectify the competitive imbalance inherent to maintaining a New York operations. The highlights of the proposed deal include a block of inexpensive power, decreased workers compensation costs, and grants for plant investment. These exact same items (with the grant request in its truest essence being a call for decreased taxation, which would allow self-funded investment) have been clamored-for for decades from all Chambers of Commerce, manufacturers, and retail establishments in order borders, not just as a package per se but as a standard way of doing business. NY businesses, just like Delphi, cannot effectively compete in interstate and international commerce when the State’s commercial electrical costs are 43% higher than the national average, our comp costs are second-highest in the nation, and the corporate tax per capita exceeds the national average by 171%.

Every business that has ever operated within NY has found itself saddled with these unbelievable disadvantages and the economy has suffered for it. Western New York, specifically, became a rust belt and lost a great many chemical manufactures and high-tech jobs because of these burdens. In the decades since this stunning collapse, Albany has maintained a deaf ear and blind eye to the situation’s cause and effect. Subsequently, small manufacturers everywhere closed shop or downsized. This caused the state to change from a manufacturing Mecca into a service economy. Such a transformation has the entire state primed for a collapse of its own. A strong manufacturing base yields a wealth-creating economy, whereby said base touches upon and substantially improves all facets of life and economy. Conversely, a service economy - which New York has become - is not a wealth-creating economy and it exists to serve itself and only the people who use its service. A service economy is severely limited in potential and is ill prepared to compete beyond its small sphere of influence.

The aforementioned continuous economic ruin, combined with a mass exodus out of New York State (the net migration for 2003 was a loss of 170,041 New Yorkers) has put our leaders on the defensive with Delphi. The state is doing its best to quell a public relations nightmare. Were they to let another manufacturer of Delphi’s size and potential slip away (and put almost 4,000 blue-collar families out of work), New York’s leadership would become a national if not international laughing stock. Our State’s problems would be made apparent yet again to the masses and any hope for future development in New York State by outsiders would become a crapshoot, especially amongst an ultra-competitive system in which economic development agencies from across the nation fight tooth and nails for new blood.

The move to satisfy Delphi is a smokescreen and nothing more. By addressing the incredible cost of doing business in New York through first aid - rather than prevention - Albany has succeeded in leveling the playing field for Delphi and no one else. Delphi is one company and 3,800 employees. Our leadership seems to have forgotten that there are thousands of businesses and 7.1 million private sector employees in our borders, all of whom are affected by the very same unfortunate burdens. If Albany was serious about keeping good jobs here, promoting true economic development or making New York a great global destination for doing business, they would change the legislation, taxes, and bureaucracy that affect all businesses.

But, rather than changing the system at hand, Pataki and his brethren have taken the easy way out with Delphi. Truth be told, failure to proceed in the right direction will come back to haunt Lockport again. Once the benefits of Albany’s temporary fix wanes in the coming years, what is Delphi to do?