When can we call a deal that’s not a deal a 'deal?'

[Click the link for source information.]

Remember that $84 billion “deal” that West Virginia made with China during faux-president Trump’s visit there this past week?

Guess what? It’s not really a deal.

It’s a MOU – a Memorandum of Understanding – that says both sides want to enter into further discussions toward actually making a deal. In business, that’s a l-o-o-n-g way away from being a deal. MOUs get signed all the time and nothing ever comes from them, or they get significantly changed before the first spade touches earth. They’re like the “wish list” of economic development.

According to Public Broadcasting,  Democrat-turned-Republican Governor Jim Justice and state Commerce Secretary Woody Thrasher held a press conference Monday to discuss the “deal” between West Virginia and China Energy. They were more than happy to outline how the deal came about, “but didn’t provide specifics” about the MOU.

Supposedly, China Energy wants to invest nearly $84 billion in the West Virginia natural gas and petrochemical industries during the next 20 years. Two things about this non-deal stood out to me immediately:

(1) Until the details are negotiated and the appropriate documents are signed, this deal doesn’t really exist. When you hold a press conference to announce a deal that isn’t really a deal, is that considered “fake news?”

(2) It’s mainly a deal for natural gas – the very resource that is putting so many coal miners out of work. Remember the coal miners? The ones Trump promised he would get their jobs back? Assuming that this “deal” ever gets finalized, please explain to me how expanding the market for West Virginia natural gas is going to revive the coal industry. I must be missing something here.  

Meanwhile, the governor and his minions are holding press conferences and celebrating as though they just won the Powerball jackpot. Or are they? Here’s a comment from Thrasher that shows exactly how solid this deal really is:

“Can I guarantee you that they're going to spend 83 billion dollars in 20 years?” he said. “No. But what I can guarantee you is the governor has directed me to do everything within my power to facilitate these projects going forward.”

He added that if he’s a good boy for the rest of the year and eats all of his broccoli, he hopes that Santa Claus will bring him some real nice presents on Christmas Eve. He neglected to add that “if wishes were horses then beggars would ride.”

Justice, too, seems very excited about the agreement, except when he isn't. “We want to be realistic,” he said. “We want to absolutely believe that it's happening. But, at the same time, we don't want to just drop all of our guards and think, 'Yeah, yeah, it's done, done.'”

Apparently, Governor Justice went to the Donald Trump School of Deal Making. And the Donald Trump School of English Grammar and Sentence Structure. And the Donald Trump School of Telling the Truth. 

Now to be fair, I only know what I read. I’m no insider and I have no information that suggests this agreement won’t eventually be signed, or that it wouldn't be a boon to the state's economy, and we're a little short on boons right at the moment.

I would add, however, that I have lived in this state for more years than I care to remember, and if this deal falls through and the $84 billion somehow finds its way to Texas or Kentucky or some other southern state, it won’t be the first time the Mountain State was promised dinner and a movie but ended up only getting screwed.