Alabama gets $1.6 billion auto plant

[Anomalocaris]

Oh, yes.  The future of American greatness clearly rests with technical college education and blue collar manufacturing jobs.  Make America great again.

Let the China be small, the Chinese be University educated, and relegate all the undesirable white color jobs to the Chinese.

Fucking morons.

I think the problem with younger people in recent generations, is that we have millions of people who should probably be mindlessly pushing a button at the widget factory 8 hours a day 40 hours a week until they retire, but the mindless button pushing jobs are gone.  Historically, that would be their role.  But now we're trying to herd a lot of people who are suited for grunt work into jobs that require a lot more.  

The population just isn't evolving fast enough, and probably can't evolve fast enough to turn all the would be dullards into productive tech savvy folks.  There's just an issue of aptitude.  And for that portion of the population, it's important we have appropriate jobs like this.  We need more work in the gap between flipping burgers at McDonald's and developing software.

Yes, America would be all the greater because millions of Americans are overpaid grunts and others can't be bothered to finance ways to make more of them.  Our future is great indeed.

This is very likely the first time in history when third world countries outsource low skill jobs to a first world country and a first world country is glad to take them, and is happy to pay for the favor by exporting high skill, high education jobs back in return. We are truly ground breaking or what?

[Fake Messiah]

meanwhile...

Carrier laying off over 200 employees as part of move to Mexico despite Trump deal

The 215 employees will leave the manufacturer in its final round of layoffs at the Indianapolis facility.
President Trump — who promised to revamp the manufacturing sector on the campaign trail and in the Oval Office — said in November 2016 he reached an agreement with the corporation to preserve about 1,000 jobs at the Indianapolis plant.
Last July the company laid off 300 workers at the Indianapolis factory.

http://thehill.com/homenews/administrati...-this-week

[SteelCurtain]

What I truly hate is the touting of jobs gained or lost in single instances as if they affirm one policy or another.

People getting employed is a good thing. People getting laid off sucks. But both are a natural part of any economy. Lots of plants opened during Obama's presidency. Lots of jobs were shipped overseas.

The employment numbers increased the whole way. I hope the same happens with Trump. But it looks like a bubble, and smells like a bubble. I hope it's not a bubble.

[Thumpalumpacus]

What I truly hate is the touting of jobs gained or lost in single instances as if they affirm one policy or another.

People getting employed is a good thing. People getting laid off sucks. But both are a natural part of any economy. Lots of plants opened during Obama's presidency. Lots of jobs were shipped overseas.

The employment numbers increased the whole way. I hope the same happens with Trump. But it looks like a bubble, and smells like a bubble. I hope it's not a bubble.

By way of analogy, it's like saying global warming ain't happening because of a single snowstorm.

[Antares]

We also have a Mercedes plant, close to Tuscaloosa, AL.

[Brian37]

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-a...SKBN1EZ2NE

Toyota Motor Corp and Mazda Motor Corp said on Wednesday they will build a $1.6 billion joint assembly plant in Alabama that will employ up to 4,000 workers, a boost for President Donald Trump, who wants automakers to expand U.S. production.

Toyota President Akio Toyoda and Mazda Chief Executive Officer Masamichi Kogai joined Alabama Governor Kay Ivey in Montgomery at an event to announce the decision.

“Welcome to sweet home Alabama,” Ivey said to the two executives, after saying the anticipated 4,000 workers at the plant to be built in Huntsville would earn an average of $50,000 a year.

The plant will produce 300,000 vehicles a year and should open on a 2,500-acre former cotton field in 2021, about 14 miles from Toyota’s engine plant in Huntsville.

Oh boy, automated plant, and guess what, Toyota is NOT an American owned company so the profits go to Japan in any case.

Meanwhile Carrier jobs still left. And Walmart is closing 65 of it's Sam's Club stores. 

You still don't get it. This is the same old bait crumbs that do nothing to grow, it is just BAIT for suckers like you.

All that will get eaten up by corporate welfare long term, and you are too gullible to see it.

[John V]

Oh, yes.  The future of American greatness clearly rests with technical college education and blue collar manufacturing jobs.  

Those certainly could be a part of a vibrant economy. Your attitude is part of what's preventing that.

In my area, a journeyman steamfitter makes $60,000 - $80,000 per year. The local union was looking for 70 apprentices this year and they're not going to reach it. That number is unprecedented. It used to be that you needed to know someone in the union to become an apprentice. Now there just isn't enough interest to fill all the slots. Everyone's told to get a college degree and the associated debt, when there are good alternatives. Don't look down your nose at a technical education. A good welder makes more than a lot of college grads.

[Brian37]

Oh, yes.  The future of American greatness clearly rests with technical college education and blue collar manufacturing jobs.  

Those certainly could be a part of a vibrant economy. Your attitude is part of what's preventing that.

In my area, a journeyman steamfitter makes $60,000 - $80,000 per year. The local union was looking for 70 apprentices this year and they're not going to reach it. That number is unprecedented. It used to be that you needed to know someone in the union to become an apprentice. Now there just isn't enough interest to fill all the slots. Everyone's told to get a college degree and the associated debt, when there are good alternatives. Don't look down your nose at a technical education. A good welder makes more than a lot of college grads.

No, gullible people like you are why we have had bubbles and will have another future bubble.

The TOP are the ones driving up prices, not those seeking a trade education or college education. 

Pull your head out of your butt!

---

What I truly hate is the touting of jobs gained or lost in single instances as if they affirm one policy or another.

People getting employed is a good thing. People getting laid off sucks. But both are a natural part of any economy. Lots of plants opened during Obama's presidency. Lots of jobs were shipped overseas.

The employment numbers increased the whole way. I hope the same happens with Trump. But it looks like a bubble, and smells like a bubble. I hope it's not a bubble.

Nobody is claiming gains and losses are not part of it. Long term you will have both under both parties.

But policy does matter, and long term it should not be a race to the bottom which the GOP policies do. There should be no poverty in America with the GDP it has. But long term it is becoming harder for even the middle class to make ends meet. 

As an aside, two other things news harps on which is a distraction and misses the point, are gas prices and stock market highs. It is the same bullshit distraction focusing on the daily when what is far more important are long term trends. This is the same short term focus that has idiots go "It's cold today so therefore climate change is a hoax."

Long term stability requires long term policy. Of course there will be dips but the stability is creating policy that makes those dips minimal and subject to quicker recovery.

[Anomalocaris]

Oh, yes.  The future of American greatness clearly rests with technical college education and blue collar manufacturing jobs.  

Those certainly could be a part of a vibrant economy. Your attitude is part of what's preventing that.

In my area, a journeyman steamfitter makes $60,000 - $80,000 per year. The local union was looking for 70 apprentices this year and they're not going to reach it. That number is unprecedented. It used to be that you needed to know someone in the union to become an apprentice. Now there just isn't enough interest to fill all the slots. Everyone's told to get a college degree and the associated debt, when there are good alternatives. Don't look down your nose at a technical education. A good welder makes more than a lot of college grads.

Uh, no.

The reason why there are $60,000 for some journeyman steam fitters is because somewhere else in the economy large amount of value is being added by highly educated people.  It is out of value these educated and extremely skilled people add that the 60,000 is made available.

Let those jobs flow overseas, and replace them with steam fitter caliber jobs, and not of the remaining steam fitter will get paid even $5000 a year.   How much does an equally skilled steam fitter get paid in a “shithole” in the sub saharan Africa?

This is the difference between a developed economy enriched by high value added jobs fulfilled by the highly educated, and a developing one that lack such jobs or such highly educated people.

The entire republican, and trumpian economic policy, is to short thrift education at all levels, and thereby let fewer and fewer native born Americans be equipped for a proper university education.  In effect the republican economic policy has been to undermine the fundamental basis of the United States’ ability to internally sustain its own status as an developed economy.

At the same time, trump is dissuading people who have excellent primary and secondary education courtesy of other country’s education system from coming here to get University education and stay to take up the slack made possible by america’s Own chronic and extreme underinvestment in our primarily an secondary education.  For much of the last 4-5 decades, America has in effect made up for the shortfall in its ability to internally sustain its developed economy by leaching off of the better primary and secondary education systems in the rest of the world.  Now trump wants to turn off the tap of this life blood.

Basically trump is trumpeting another step in the conversion of America into a third world sweat shop.

The former sweatshop, China, is moving upscale.  Wages in China is no longer cheap.  China is making colossal investment in primary, secondary, university and professional training so their workers will increasingly not be of the journeyman steam fitter type.   Instead they aim to equip their labor force with the education, sophistication and ability to add value to their knowledge based economy commensurate with rising wages.

However, it is not this that appears to impress trump.  It is the sweat shop china of 15 years ago that had nothing but manufacturing sweat shops that appeared great to trump.   It looks like trump is so impressed with where China was 15 ago he is aiming to make the “great again” America 15 years hence into a sweatshop replica of where China was 15 years ago.

But who could blame him.  Would he win any elections if more American workers were, like, University educated?

[John V]

Do you know what a steamfitter is? You can't shift their work overseas.