Here's Why Trump's Carrier Deal Is So Important

thompson

Certa Bonum Certamen
http://www.investors.com/politics/editorials/heres-why-trumps-carrier-deal-is-so-important/

Here's Why Trump's Carrier Deal Is So Important

12/02/2016


Economy: President-elect Trump's deal with Carrier isn't important because it saved 1,000 jobs. It's important because of the message it sends to businesses everywhere: Help is on the way.

The reaction to Carrier's decision to retain some of its employees after meeting with Trump has been amusing. On the one hand, Trump's critics say the deal was a mere trifle, since there are still so many people out there hurting. On the other hand, they claim that Trump is acting like a third-world despot.

A few headlines paint the picture:

"Trump's Carrier Victory Is the Economy's Loss"

"Trump's Carrier deal is right out of Putin's playbook"

"Is Trump's Deal With Carrier A Form Of Crony Capitalism?"

"Trump Cheered for Carrier Deal Even as Other Jobs Are Trimmed"

"Bernie Sanders: Donald Trump 'Has Endangered' U.S. Jobs With Carrier Deal"

The White House, meanwhile, sniffed that saving 1,000 jobs was a mere fraction of all the manufacturing jobs supposedly created on Obama's watch. (Earth to White House: Trump isn't even president yet. Plus, there are 300,000 fewer manufacturing jobs today than when Obama took office in January 2009, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.)

To be sure, we are not thrilled with the fact that Indiana agreed to cough up $7 million in special tax breaks for Carrier to keep some of its jobs in the state. It's a misallocation of resources that only encourages companies to hold states for ransom. But this is, unfortunately, a routine practice among state governments these days. And Democrats can hardly complain about it, since their only recipe for growth is to hand out special tax breaks to companies that do their bidding.

Nor are we fans of Trump's threats to impose tariffs on companies for making products abroad — since the only people hurt by such tariffs will be the very working class families Trump is claiming to champion.

But listen to what Carrier said after meeting with Trump. It said its decision was made possible "because the incoming Trump-Pence administration has emphasized to us its commitment to support the business community and create an improved, more competitive U.S. business climate."

If that's the message Trump is delivering to business leaders, we should all be cheering.

It means an end to eight years in which President Obama, instead of supporting U.S. companies, arrogantly scolded business leaders and treated businesses as either piggy banks to be raided or as enemies to be brought to heel through regulations and mandates. We've seen the effects of Obama's approach — eight years of dismally slow growth, stagnant wages, and a surging population of labor-force dropouts.

What's more, if Trump succeeds in cutting business taxes, allowing companies to repatriate money parked overseas, and easing the regulatory burden on job creators — as he's promised — he won't have to browbeat companies into keeping jobs here, because they will already be doing that, and creating millions more.

We can hardly wait to see how Trump's critics try to put a negative spin on that.
 

TammyinWI

Talk is cheap
Carrier Details Indy Layoffs (*fair use)

Posted: May 22, 2017 12:11 PM CDT
Updated: May 22, 2017 12:19 PM CDT

INDIANAPOLIS -
Carrier Corp. says it will begin the layoff process for more than 630 employees in Indianapolis this summer. The layoffs are coming despite the company's commitment to keep more than 1,000 jobs in the city, 800 of which were previously slated to be outsourced to Mexico.

In a notice to the state, Carrier says the employees are part of its fan coil production operations, which is being relocated to Mexico. The affected positions were never included in the deal orchestrated by President Donald Trump in late November. The company says the layoffs are expected to be permanent.

"This action follows a thorough evaluation of our manufacturing operations and is intended to address the challenges the business faces in a rapidly changing industry," Carrier said in the notice.

The layoffs are expected to begin July 20 with 338 employees losing their jobs. Four more are slated to be let go on October 1, followed by 290 layoffs on December 22.

United Steelworkers Local 1999 said in December more than 500 jobs would still move to Mexico even after Carrier agreed to invest $16 million into the Indianapolis facility. In March, the Indiana Economic Development Corp. approved $7 million in incentives for Carrier as a result of the investment.

You can read Carrier's WARN notice below:

Displaying Carrier located in Indianapolis.pdf. (please view at link, couldn't copy it over.)

http://www.insideindianabusiness.com/story/35487307/carrier-details-indy-layoffs
 
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