Tuesday, October 30, 2012

A Tale Of Two Cities

First, we have Mitt Romney claiming that Chrysler is shipping Toledo Jeep jobs to China:
Romney commented while campaigning last week that he had read news reports saying Chrysler would be cutting American jobs in favor of manufacturing Jeeps overseas.
Marchionne said it is true that the company is ramping up overseas manufacturing, but as additional capacity to feed growing demand in Chinese markets, not to replace American jobs.
"Jeep assembly lines will remain in operation in the United States and will constitute the backbone of the brand," he said. "It is inaccurate to suggest anything different."
The back-and-forth, held just one week before Election Day, may prove a pivotal moment.
So, that wasn't quite true.  But, then again, Romney probably knows how profitable that can be for a business, since the company he formerly ran, and still has investments with, is shipping jobs from Freeport, Illinois to China:
At the age of 86 retired plumber Paul Holz has just been arrested for the first time in his long life.
Clutching an American flag, the elderly resident of Freeport, Illinois, was handcuffed by police outside a Sensata car parts plant which is shipping jobs to China and has become a national symbol for the outsourcing of American manufacturing jobs abroad.
"I am totally against outsourcing work from America. Jobs need to stay here, so I decided to go down and join the protests," he explained.
That decision ended in a trip to the local police station and a mugshot for the lifelong union supporter.
But Holz is far from alone. Workers, ex-workers and local residents have set up an encampment outside the gate. They have held protests, tried to deliver petitions and sought to prevent vehicles shipping out plant parts destined for China from leaving the site.
Because Sensata is majority owned by Bain Capital – the controversial former company run by Republican challenger Mitt Romney – the camp has been dubbed Bainport.
The article goes on to say that Romney still owns stock in Sensata.   When it comes down to it, most of the charges Republicans make about Obama are just projection.  They are already doing whatever it is they are concerned about Obama doing.  In the case of Romney claiming to stand up against outsourcing, I don't think we can trust him.

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