I don’t understand why this isn’t a bigger story in the media than it is. Maybe it’s because CNN’s Poppy Harlow broke it in the middle of the afternoon yesterday in an exclusive, and the media lost rack of it with coverage of Hillary’s triumphant return, and then Obama’s speech to the CHCI, followed by Clinton’s. But this should be a bigger deal, especially because it proves again that Das Donald either doesn’t know what he’s talking about, or just doesn’t care about whether what he says is true or not.
It’s just a hunch, but I think Ford Motor Co. CEO Mark Fields is just about sick and fed up with one Orange Julius. For quite a while now, Trump has been holding Ford up to scorn in rally speeches for moving jobs to Mexico, threatening them with a 35% tax to bring their cars back in if he is elected. It takes congress to levy taxes, but don’t bother the Cheeto Prophet when he’s on a roll.
A few days ago Ford announced that it was moving it’s entire U.S. small car manufacturing operation to Mexico. Trump was all over it like wild on rice. He ranted and railed against the corporate greed of Ford, threatening to punish them again. Quite a temper tantrum from a guy who makes his shit everywhere BUT the United States.
According to an article in CNNMoney Trump was in fine form on Thursday;
Earlier Thursday, Trump said in an interview on Fox News that Ford planned to "fire all their employees in the United States and...move to Mexico." He added that Ford would have to pay a 35% tax on any car that comes back to the U.S. if he becomes president. "And you know what's gonna happen, they're never going to leave."
There’s only one problem with this, it isn’t true. That is to say, it is true that Ford is moving their small car operations to Mexico, but not one U.S. job will be lost. To quote the Ford CEO in the interview;
"It's really unfortunate when politics get in the way of the facts," he said Thursday in an exclusive interview with CNN's Poppy Harlow.
Asked if Ford would cut any U.S. jobs as part of its plans to build a new plant in Mexico, he responded; "Absolutely not. Zero. Not one job will be lost. Most of our investment is here in the US. And that's the way it will continue to be."
Mr. Fields went on to explain that they have a contract with the auto workers, workers cannot be displaced by jobs moving overseas. Right now Ford employs over 85,000 workers, up 50% over 5 years ago. Turns out that as small car production goes to Mexico, the U.S. workers will begin working on manufacturing “two new and exciting products” in the plants.
Got that Tiny Fisted Emperor? Ford has 85,000 U.S. workers as opposed to 8,000 in Mexico, and the new Mexico development will only add another 2,800 jobs there. No U.S. workers are getting fired or laid off, they’ll just make different cars instead. That simple enough for you?
This should be a bigger story than it is, Trump is blatantly misrepresenting the situation for his own gain, and he needs to get called out on it. If you agree with me, please tweet or FB share this to try and put social media pressure on the media to pick it up.
The interview can be seen on the article posted HERE I can’t get the copy to embed.
Thanks as always for reading!
Friday, Sep 16, 2016 · 7:39:23 PM +00:00 · Murfster35
Thanks to merrywidow for a LINK to an article in the Detroit Free Press that listed the six reasons Ford moved the operation...Not one of them had anything to do with taxes, but number six said all Trump should need to know;
Still committed to the U.S.: It's not like Ford is pulling up stakes and moving to Mexico. The automaker is still investing heavily in the U.S., and It's worth noting Ford's talking points on this issue.
- Last year, Ford built 2.5 million cars and trucks in the U.S. — more than any other automaker.
- Since 2011, Ford has invested $10.2 billion in its U.S. plants. And over the next four years, will invest $9 billion more. That investment is expected to create or retain 8,500 U.S. jobs.
- Last year, Ford invested $168 million at its Ohio Assembly plant to build heavy-duty trucks at that plant that were previously made in Mexico. The investment helped to keep more than 1,000 hourly workers employed. The UAW and Ford negotiated the move of the truck production to Ohio way back in 2011, as part of their last round of contract talks.
So much for divesting from the U.S. and its workers, huh???
Friday, Sep 16, 2016 · 10:05:53 PM +00:00
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Murfster35
I just wanted to take a moment to thank all of my Kossack brethren for the outstanding support for this article...Not just the Rec List, but the fact that it’s up to almost 1000 FB shares!!! Avalanches start from just a few snowflakes rolling downhill...Thanks!!!