It's easy for the employed writers of this article to say that Pfizer didn't really make any difference in that community other than offering jobs while they were in town and after they pulled out, that town is still alive and remaining static.
I wonder how the "uneducated" hourly employee who used to work for Pfizer feels about that?
Ann Arbor also has a very large number of taxpayer supported jobs both at UofM and municipal.
If given a choice between vaporizing Detroit or Ann Arbor, Detroit could sleep easy. Detroit is kind of a mindless uncaring leech but Ann Arbor is an angry, arrogant, and demanding leech.
I found the article to be pretty unconcerned about a net loss of 7,000 jobs. That is not unimportant. Now, the town may still appear prosperous [20,000+ college kids will support a lot of retail,] but Pfizer's loss along with the others mentioned certainly must have had an impact somewhere.
That doesn't mean I agree with these sorts of tax deals.