It's official. The upwardly mobile Gillette Creamery, a decades-long resident of Ellenville and the Town of Wawarsing, is moving to a nicer neighborhood. While government and business leaders cheer the "retention" of an Ulster County business, at the end of the day what you have is a struggling community (Ellenville) hammered yet again, and a much healthier community (Gardiner) given even more, subsidized by the taxpayers to the tune of an outright gift of half a million dollars, and half a million more of easy credit. Certainly in line with the times, where the poor are repeatedly asked to subsidize the crushing costs of being rich, we don't feel the signing of contracts on Monday is something to be celebrated. Gillette's move is, at best, a depressing reminder of how business gets done in America, about who wins, and who loses.

We don't fault Gillette Creamery much for doing what they have to do to grow their business — whether the considered move to Vermont was real or just a ploy to game the system and free up some government handouts, this is how business works in America. Corporate welfare, we're told, is a necessary form of life-support for American capitalism, from GM on down to the family farm. A business would be foolish to not participate. That doesn't make it any less nauseating, however.

Business so often gets a pass on the ethical issues that surround its decisions, especially in recessionary times. People are desperate for jobs and will sacrifice much to get them. If a business can grow and create jobs, just about any means are acceptable, regardless of cost. For the 10 jobs Gillette hopes to create with its move, nearly $1million of public money will be spent. Compared to some recent actions by the federal government, that seems like a bargain. But it's peculiar that a country so puritanical when it comes to personal behavior is so tolerant when in comes to supposed "job providers."

In America if you offer a job, you get a pass, forever.

It seems very odd that an area with acres of empty commercial space could not put together a package attractive enough to retain an important local employer. If Wawarsing can't even keep what it has, how can it attract new business to replace what it has already lost? Perhaps Gillette bent over backward to try and stay. Perhaps they felt unwelcome, or couldn't get the assistance they needed. Or maybe no package would have kept Gillette. Maybe the grass really is "greener" east of the ridge.

While the particulars of the Gillette business plan will most likely remain a mystery, let's not congratulate ourselves too much, that at least they are just "over the mountain," still close by. Back in Wawarsing, where Ellenville residents spend most of their time, there is another empty commercial space, fewer people on the streets, less to do, less interest overall. If Ellenville and Wawarsing are indeed still considered a part of Ulster, Gardiner's gain is a much bigger loss for the county as a whole.