THE CONVENTIONAL wisdom is that we are heading into a recession.
So on the surface, the deal negotiated by state leaders to secure a
$394 million expansion in Lexington of Shire PLC, with 680 new jobs,
is good news.
The problem is that landing the British drug maker's expansion
cost taxpayers $40.5 million in state and $7.5 million in local
incentives, or nearly $70,000 per job. At that rate, reaching the
goal Governor Patrick set out in his State of the State address for
the administration's $1 billion life sciences proposal - to "add
another 250,000 jobs over the next decade" - will cost upward of $15
billion. That's Big Dig territory.
The state House of Representatives has revised the ...