It appears reporter Jeff Ayres of the Clarion-Ledger fell for more UAW propoganda. He penned a story last week on Mercedes moving its corporate headquarters in America from New Jersey to Atlanta. However, he felt the need to trot out the claim that the South was buying its way into manufacturing prosperity:
A key reason why Nissan and Toyota are in the Magnolia State, and why Nissan Canton has doubled its workforce and number of vehicles manufactured locally in the past four years, is a state Legislature that has been willing to provide hundreds of millions of dollars in incentives.
Critics of such spending deride those incentives as corporate welfare, but supporters contend it's what states like Mississippi with no long-term automotive manufacturing history and a generally less-skilled workforce have to do to land such businesses.Rest of article.
JJ documented six years ago that the South was not merely "buying" auto manufacturing plants as I published a list of northern states that engaged in the same behavior:
The total incentives, credits, and abatements on this list total $1,456,300,000 with nearly $1 billion of it coming from Michigan alone. (This list is incomplete as it was compiled after only spending 20 minutes on Google.).
In fact, JJ stated "A quick search on Google reveals Northern states haven't exactly sat on their hands when it comes to shoveling out the dollars to Detroit". It would be nice if local reporters would not buy into the UAW propaganda and actually just report the news or conduct some actual research. Here is the real reason that Mercedes is moving (Wall Street Journal):
John Boyd, principal of the Boyd Company Inc., a Princeton, N.J.-based site selection consultant, said that New Jersey has the country’s most appealing incentives policy in his assessment, but it was outweighed by the cost- savings and convenience of moving to the U.S. South. He said that the move would reduce Mercedes-Benz’s costs, including real estate, energy and property taxes, by about 20%.
20%. Ouch. Brings to mind UPS making a similar move in the 1990's when it moved its corporate headquarters from Connecticut to Atlanta. Company executives then said the average price of a home in the northern state was over $200,000 and in Atlanta it was approximately $75,000. They also said their employees couldn't afford to live in Connecticut, hence the move. Mercedes employees will probably enjoy a similar experience once they move to Georgia.
6 comments:
If your goal is to completely gut the unions then you are accomplishing your mission. Who do you think brought you the 40 hour work week, child labor laws,vacation and sick pay, etc...Here's a hint, it wasn't the corporations. Just remember when workers have no power in collective bargaining and there is no worker representation corporations will show their true stripes. The corporations will then elect their guys to congress and roll back employee rights. When there is a vacumn someone will fill it and it won't be the workers.
11:58,
I'm looking at KF's last paragraph and I don't see anything supporting your argument. In fact, what I do see is a company who moved headquarters in part because its workers would enjoy a higher quality of life in the new location. What does that have to do with the accusations you laid at KF's feet?
12:32 - 11:58 has nothing else but that tired old argument. That's it.
Unions, which were generally a blend of organized crime with marxist philosophy, did move many industries in the right direction as far as more reasonable worker's rights. But, being as they were mostly corrupt to start with, they quickly lost their way and went way too far. So, thanks for your help one hundred years ago, Now get lost!
Mississippi's education system is deplorable vs MI and CT. And our civil rights history is even more of a turn off. When you're ugly, you have to find other ways to attract attention. My hunch is that Mississippi is giving away more than tax incentives to get these deals done.
You're right, 2:01. We prostitute out all of our future Miss Americas to bag the big companies.
You sound like a woman scorned. Come back with a better argument.
Reminding us that unions at one time in our history served a good purpose is certainly no practical argument for their existence today. DDT served a purpose seventy years ago as well.
Every newspaper in America is staffed with liberal malcontents who support unions. Any industry worth its profit margin today believes in addressing issues of concern to employees.
Not a single one of these liberal goofballs has ever worked a day in his/her life in a private sector industrial job or a corporation other than a liberal newspaper. Nor has Bennie Thompson.
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