Good News or Bad News? Tom Corbett and Urban Outfitters

Some days we don’t know if the news is good or bad. Let’s see what we can do with this announcement by the state’s economic development authorities:

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett announced a $3 million grant…

Good news, right! Pennsylvania needs jobs, and anything that makes jobs is good! Right?

…to help Urban Outfitters, Inc…..

Bad news! You mean we’re using precious state taxpayer dollars to help a business that had $686 million in sales last quarter? We can’t balance the budget but we’re going to help a giant company — albeit a giant local company — pad its bottom line?

… install a 3MW rooftop solar array at their new Gap fulfillment center in Lancaster County, PA. …

Good news! That’s environmentally friendly, so Pennsylvanians will benefit, even if they do so by helping a big giant company.

The solar array will produce enough renewable energy to cover 50 percent of the energy needs of the 970,000-square-foot fulfillment center.

OK, we’ll call this good news. We’re not fans of corporate welfare. Urban Outfitters could spend this money on its own facilities and still turn a profit. But. Would they go the environmentally friendly route without a hand from government? This time, we won’t get to find out.