You will be told that no state in its right mind would build an economic strategy out of bribing corporations to set up shop there. And the lecture will be more or less sincere.
Governors really do hate smokestack chasing.
The only trouble is, they can't stop doing it. They are not the only ones who have mentioned it. Two years ago, the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis brought up federal intervention in a widely noticed report that argued for Congress to exercise its regulatory authority over interstate commerce to end the business-recruitment war between the states. But the real momentum was generated this May, when the Republican-controlled Ohio Senate unanimously passed a resolution requesting federal assistance in halting the interstate smokestack chase. Next year, legislators in as many as a dozen other states are expected to introduce similar measures.