Comments on Advance Indiana™: Indiana Loses Over 17,000 Manufucturing Jobs

It's the plan of the Governor AND the Mayor. The r...

2007-06-06T21:05:00.000-05:00

It's the plan of the Governor AND the Mayor.
The rich get richer and the middle class get poor!

The worldwide playing field is INDEED not level, a...

2007-06-06T08:36:00.000-05:00

The worldwide playing field is INDEED not level, and here's a screaming-out-loud example:

The Chrysler Foundry didn't just "close." It was a huge polluter, and the corporate bigwigs found a willing Mexican govt. Daimler-Chrysler, which was never more than a bailout entity, raped and burned the assets, dismantled the foundry, and moved it to Mexico. No pesky environmental laws to deal with.

The real laugher here? The foundry's emissions now travel 75 nautical miles, with prevailing winds, into the Southwestern US.
Indianapolis smokestacks are not belching into Sante Fe. Odd, huh?

So all we did in this crazy exchange, is lose hundreds of jobs here, and exchange midwestern/eastern airborne pollutants for Southwestern pollutants.

And Mexico got nary a hand-slap. Now with Presidente Bush, their hapless unindicated co-conspirator, driving our trade policy. Hurrumph. Trade policy in this administration is an oxymoronic phrase.

Our Southern border hemispheric cousins need to know, if they steal jobs, and belch pollutants without consequence, they'll have a hard time making friends in America.

And so it goes.

How long can Indiana withstand the exodus of "livi...

2007-06-06T08:03:00.000-05:00

How long can Indiana withstand the exodus of "living wage" jobs?
There is of course, plenty of blame that gets tossed around but I cannot help but feel that the American consumer has purchased their way into their own unemployment line.
Granted we are in a global economy but the worldwide playing field is far from level.

I found an interesting site included in Indiana Wo...

2007-06-06T05:39:00.000-05:00

I found an interesting site included in Indiana Workforce Development (which you may already know of):

http://www.in.gov/dwd/employers/
warn_notices.html

The site provides warn notices covering layoffs and closures. Since the first of this year up through May, we have either laid off or terminated 4,612 workers.

Daniels is so keen on hyping the jobs that he secures, but you rarely hear anything about those lost.

When Ford wraps up its operations at the eastside ...

2007-06-05T23:10:00.000-05:00

When Ford wraps up its operations at the eastside plant, there's another couple thousand or so that's displaced. Thankfully everyone I knew that worked there has taken their retirement and RAN! On top of that, Chrysler's former Tibbs Ave. foundry is now razed.

It's still up in the air what is going to become of the International engine plant - Ford and International are bickering over warranty costs incurred from failure prone Power Stroke engines built in model years 2003 and 2004. International shut down the plant for about a week to withhold engines from Ford, a Michigan judge issued an injunction but it's all going to be a high stakes game of chicken and which company will blink first - Ford cancelling the contract and be without a diesel engine supplier [Cummins is rumored as wooing Ford but it is also rumored Cummins is locked into an exclusive deal with Chrysler], or International walks away and loses their sole customer for medium duty truck engines, leading to a likely closure of the Brookville Road facility.

Back when most of these facilities were built the concept of an automaker outside the USA gaining a foothold was unimaginable. Now Asian nameplates outsell American ones on a regular basis [yes I know some "Asian" cars are assembled here in the US]

Indiana literally had its eggs in one big basket with The Big 3. Unfortunately that basket now has holes in the bottom and it's come back to bite us hard. On the bright side, it appears Chrysler is keeping both Kokomo area plants open after the Germans complete the spinoff to the equity group, and for GM the Fort Wayne assembly and Truck & Bus facilities are safe - for the moment. In contrast, after the eastside Ford then Visteon then Ford again but placed in an LLC closes then Ford will no longer have a direct presence in Indiana. Only residual effect in NW Indiana with Ford's Chicago Heights metal stamping plant and Chicago Assembly plant, and Clark/Floyd/Harrison Counties with two Ford assembly plants located in Louisville, Kentucky.