Obama speech echoes in town with failed factory
President Barack Obama's pledge to repair the American economy was greeted with both hope and skepticism in a Missouri town still stung by failed promises of a Chinese-owned artificial sweetener factory and hundreds of new jobs that failed to materialize.
The northern Missouri town of Moberly hailed a July 2010 announcement that Mamtek U.S. Incorporated would turn an idle soybean field into a high-tech manufacturing plant employing more than 600 workers. The project was backed by $7.6 million in state tax incentives and $39 million of local bonds.
The project failed in 2011 when the company's bond payments dried up. The half-built factory stands idle as Moberly expects to default on the bonds.
Business owner Diane Harlan wants Obama to exert more economic leadership. Others in town blame Congress.
AP
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