Alabama taxpayers may well gain the most from Tennessee's shocking VW plant shenanigans

The NashvillePost and City Paper report that Volkswagen now is looking closely at possibly building a supply facility for its new Chattanooga plant in Huntsville, Ala. -- not Tennessee.

Gov. Phil Bredesen made his winning bid of $577 million in corporate freebies for the automaker based on Volkswagen locating its supply plants in Tennessee. The administration claimed its figures justifying this giveaway had been crunched by a supposed state think tank. The state of Tennessee is giving "thinking" a bad name.

This morning, the media outlets reported the shocking news on the VW supply plant from a German publication that closely follows the auto industry.

One would think that supposed saavy business people such as Bredesen would have required VW to locate its supply plants in Tennessee in exchange for freebies that oustripped Alabama's bid for the plant by more than $200 million.

One would think that supposed saavy business people such as Bredesen would at least have required that VW only hire Tennesseans for its jobs at the Chattanooga plant. But that is not the case either. You as a Tennessee taxpayer will be paying $68,000 a year in tax breaks for each job at the Chatanooga plant for workers who may be from Georgia and Alabama. Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.

It certainly appears that "thinking" was not going on in the Bredesen administration when $577 million in corporate freebies were given to VW. And now Alabama may well be the big winners from all these shenanigans, by ensuring their taxpayers pay less for jobs.