Borisch Manufacturing, a local electronics company that frequently sells weapons components to the United States military, received tax breaks from the city of Kentwood last week on an expansion. The expansion, which the company says is necessary to make additional room for work done for the military, was given tax abatements on $750,000 in renovations and more than $2.6 million in equipment. In 2004 and 2001, Borisch received tax abatements for similar expansions despite the fact that the expansions come as the company’s sales continue to grow with sales expecting to exceed $50 million in 2007. Kentwood’s Mayor, Richard Root, described the Borisch in the Grand Rapids Press by saying that “This is a remarkably good application for the city.”
As is generally the case with the local media’s coverage of military contractors, there was never any contextual information about what exactly Borisch does for the military and how its contributions are used in the occupation of Iraq. While it has been largely ignored by the corporate media recently, Borisch manufacturers components for a wide variety of weapons systems used in Iraq including the M1A1 tank, fire control computing sights for Paladin canons, targeting components for various guns, and parts for the Stryker military vehicle. Moreover, far from being “abstractions” that have no direct application in Iraq, many of the components manufactured by Borisch provide critical functionality to the military. The Press coverage also neglected to mention that Borisch Manufacturing is just one of many companies in West Michigan producing components for weapons systems used in Iraq.
