Carrier's parent company says Indiana jobs will be lost to automation: Politics Extra

[WhiteTara]

http://www.cleveland.com/open/index.ssf/2016/12/carriers_parent_company_says_i.html

Carrier deal is popular: President-elect Donald Trump's first major action since Election Day - the deal he and Vice President-elect Mike Pence struck last week with Carrier Corp. - is earning support from American voters, according to a new Politico/Morning Consult poll. Sixty percent of voters surveyed said that Carrier's decision to keep about 800 manufacturing jobs in Indiana rather than moving them to Mexico gave them a more favorable view of Trump. Only 9 percent said it made them view Trump less favorably, while 22 percent said it did not have an impact either way.

But even though the jobs aren't going to Mexico ... Many of the approximately 800 jobs will likely be lost to automation, reports The New York Times. In an interview with CNBC's Jim Kramer, Greg Hayes, CEO of Carrier's parent company United Technologies, was blunt. "We're going to make up [the] $16 million investment in that factory in Indianapolis to automate, to drive the cost down so that we can continue to be competitive. Now is it as cheap as moving to Mexico with lower cost of labor? No. But we will make that plant competitive just because we'll make the capital investments there," Hayes said. "But what that ultimately means is there will be fewer jobs."

He also confirmed that he feared standing up to Trump because it could be costly to his conglomerate, which includes a lot of defense work. "There was a cost as we thought about keeping the Indiana plant open. At the same time - and I'll tell you this because you and I, we know each other - but I was born at night but not last night. I also know that about 10 percent of our revenue comes from the U.S. government."

Trump takes credit for Softbank's investment: Trump announced Tuesday on Twitter that telecommunications giant Softbank Group plans to invest $50 billion into the U.S. economy and add 50,000 jobs, reports USA Today. The news came after Trump met with Softbank CEO Masayoshi Son at Trump Tower.

Masa (SoftBank) of Japan has agreed to invest $50 billion in the U.S. toward businesses and 50,000 new jobs....

[moondust]

1. "so that we can continue to be competitive"

Last edited Wed Dec 7, 2016, 02:57 PM - Edit history (1)

Are the executives taking big cuts in their absurd compensation packages "so that we can continue to be competitive"?

Why aren't shareholders filling executive positions with somebody who will do the job for a fraction of what these guys pay themselves? Business schools in India and elsewhere turn out lots of MBAs and I'd bet some would do the job just fine for relative peanuts. If "competition" is good then shouldn't white collar have to compete in the global marketplace just like blue collar?

If "competition" is destroying so many people's livelihoods then maybe competition isn't such a good thing after all.

[Wellstone ruled]

2. Got to love the Bullsh*t story about Softbank.

All that is a Venture Capital Fund set up to Invest in USA Business's. First is bailing out Sprint which is mega debt loaded. 50k jobs,what a lie,only thing they will do is,open a bunch of Call Centers at Minimum Wage.