BUT IS IT REALLY “A GREAT DAY IN SOUTH CAROLINA?”
|| By FITSNEWS || BMW. Mack Truck. Boeing. Continental … and now Volvo.
Once again, “economic developers” in South Carolina appear to have “won” a major manufacturing facility … this one bringing in an estimated $500 million in capital investment and 4,000 new jobs (over the coming fifteen years).
Sound familiar? We’ve heard numbers like these tossed around in the past … and we’ve seen the jubilant politicians smiling for the cameras at ribbon-cutting ceremonies … but what have such “wins” actually done to turn around the state’s economy?
Good question. South Carolina workers remain dumb as dirt. And dirt poor. And part of a labor force that’s much smaller than the national average. And while several of these heavily taxpayer-subsidized deals have been “winners” (notably BMW) – not all of them have lived up to their promises.
In 2002, Mack Truck closed after just fifteen years in the Palmetto State – taking more than 1,300 jobs with it.
When Mack Truck opened its facility in South Carolina back in 1987, hundreds of workers came down from Pennsylvania. Similarly aircraft manufacturer Boeing has had to import big chunks of its South Carolina workforce from Seattle.
North Carolina and Georgia were both in the running for the facility, but the Tar Heel State was ruled out over a month ago. On Friday, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that the Peach State was out of the running.
So did these competing states “lose?” Or could they just not afford “winning?”
Four years ago, North Carolina was in the hunt for the Continental plant … but decided the juice wasn’t worth the squeeze.
And what kind of squeeze are we talking about?
Well, we know lawmakers are mulling borrowing up to $120 million (a.k.a. deficit spending) to “land” the plant … and that another $45 million is available to S.C. governor Nikki Haley as part of a “deal-closing” fund. Also Santee Cooper – a state-run utility – is in the process of negotiating handouts in the form of free or reduced energy prices.
Or as they call it, the “provision of services encouraging economic development.” Santee Cooper’s board of directors even met on Mother’s Day to dole out the goodies.
Additionally, Volvo is likely to receive job development tax credits along with other “incentives” – like infrastructure enhancements, so-called “site improvements” and even income tax rebates for employees. And of course the environmentalists are going to take their cut.
What will the final price tag be? We may never know … because South Carolina is one of the least transparent states in America when it comes to disclosing the terms of deals like this. Still.
Of course we know who the primary beneficiary is … Chinese billionaire Li Shufu.
We have no problem with him, obviously. Or Volvo. We’re glad they are coming to South Carolina. We just don’t think South Carolina citizens should be forced to subsidize their operations.
161 comments
Excellent article regarding the $$$$$$$$$$…? You reported with quotes around WINS — that will be the question to be answered down the road.
Not so fast there Mr Shifty–or FITS. In the cost/benefits analysis for a company like Volvo, you also need to add the (anticipated) added value of the “feeder” companies that will launch in the area nearby to feed parts and supplies to the assembly process. The cost portion for snagging Volvo is well stated, but a major factor in the analysis is any costs associated with bringing the feeder companies in as well, cause they will certainly add jobs and taxes. But, I grant you that a good number of these will be people from out of state. Thus the challenge to the leaders of Trident Community College for developing specialized training programs for thee specific companies. And to be fair, SC is doing an above average job in the industry-training category. I say above average cause if it was good it was have a strong start in HS, not post HS.
I knew three guys who worked for Mack after taking the Tec course, they had decent jobs, liked it, and stayed until the closing day. They also felt betrayed about Mack leaving.
Henry: I got it. My hometown used to be a medium sized manufacturing powerhouse, then there was the recession in the early 80s. International Harvester, Dana Corp, Magnavox, major copper wire companies, GE, all left, mostly for Mexico. Good news, Dana Corp is coming back with a city/company collaboration. Other industries have replaced the manufacturing, but those were high paying jobs for medium level skills, something we are never going to see again.
… quit whining. Your hometown had a good deal going. What really happened? Oh Bummer?
Try reading the post the next time you want to throw shit. Wasn’t whining. I was relating historical facts. 1980s dude
Oh, you mean during the Reagan era? … Ah, yes, the good old days.
Good old days?
That sonnabitch raised my taxes Six times!
Jimmy Carter.16 percent inflation, 22 percent interest rates, and 70 percent marginal tax rates….
To be fair, those high rates extended into the early 1980s – like 1985.
The good old days–Reagan deficit explosion, tax increases, a 35% approval rate. Ah yes.
In your universe Obama is responsible for the fact that there will never be high paying jobs for medium level skills? Really? Is that your best thinking? Why don’t you ask you union busting friends about that?
“… Obama is responsible for the fact that there will never be high paying jobs for medium level skills? …”
Yes. Guess what: as of January Number One of this very year the corporate deductions for ANY research and development is gone, disappeared, nada, zippo … Now there is NO research being done to support those medium level skill jobs at all!
“… Why don’t you ask your union friends about that? …” … Well?
(This is why I am cultivating a new electronics manufacturing project … In Korea.)
Ask Obama about his top secret Pacific Trade deal, that Dems won’t even back because it has been kept top secret. So much for transparency while our lives are being played with. Between that, amnesty for illegals, and the bloody H1B visa program, we’ll be lucky to see any jobs at all.
Excellent.He also just signed a ‘secret’ arms deal with China.
Hey fc – made it to Flagler, didn’t make the oyster bar. Kids got hungry and we ended up hitting a place at Matanzas Inlet. Was nice though. Awesome weather. Flagler – cool of cool spots though. Seems like the last remaining Ole’ Florida beach town. All else is condos and hotels. Will try to hit that spot again in the future.
Yes it is-Flagler.Sounds good and glad you and your family had a good time.
Unions? Private unions destroyed manufacturing and public unions are bankrupting communities.
Fact.You people got greedy.Work 20 years.Make $25 to put a screw in a car.Retire at 40.We pay your pension and health insurance until you are 100.
It seems to be working really well for my wife and I.
You retired now,Rocky? LMAO!!!
Nope, multi-tasking on a con call right now. But nicely tanned:)
$25 per HOUR…
I don’t remember for sure, but I felt like Mack did not so much leave as they were basically set up for failure by a Federal Judge in Maryland and left because the plant became duplicative of the one the judge said reopen.
Finally. Don’t make me nag, next time.
“South Carolina workers remain dumb as dirt.” ?????
Check out Fits math.
“In 2002, Mack Truck closed after just fifteen years in the Palmetto state…”
Mack had tremendous problems after its workers voted in the Union…
Before Mack-SC was unionized, it used SC workers – and thrived. After the union was voted in, an influx of seniority union workers from Pennsylvania came in and took the jobs of the South Carolinians stupid enough to vote union…That’s when the decline of the plant began….
If you want to say the people in (Democrat-infested) Fairfield County were “dumb as Dirt” it was for following FITS’ lead and voting union, as he wants for Boeing…
What’s up with deleted comments, first time I’ve ever seen that around here. I go research stuff for a few weeks, come back, and am wondering what the hell is going on round hyeah.
same here, BB, follow my posts for the previous 3-4 days together with some related replies…
Alright, I’m looking, reading backwards..somebody hack this site? BTW, I was creeped out weeks ago by the presence of ‘new’ commenters, known unknowns, wondered at the time who they really were. Am I going to have to play a guessing game here?
SYNTwist and Buz both deleted their Disqus accounts so all of their comments that had replies to them are showing Deleted Comment now.
Also the spam filters are on over drive right now. I think that someone may be gaming the filters by reporting comments as spam over and over causing Disqus to pull the comments.
interesting….
Why would they delete their accounts?
Hi. This is Buz, BB. I’m using “Zed” because the name amuses me.
For me, it was assholes like FT and pogo constantly searching for old posts by me to “prove” this and that. I set about to find a way to wipe out as much of my history on here as possible. Got a lot of it. I make no apologies for it. The hell with “continuity.” Those conversations are old news, not worth archiving my part of them. Much I said was dead wrong, some of it was right. Among the dead wrong things I’d said were comment hurtful to people I now count among my friends. I decided to minimize any damage from that shit. Glad as hell I did it.
But what happened next is plain bizarre. I’m locked out of having a Disqus account at all. Even though the system still says I have one. The site goes nuts when I try to verify an email addy.
Freaky shit.
Meant “GT”, not “FT.”
I’m sure no one knows what you are referring to, as far as hurting people that you count as friends. Are you referring to comments made here to people that you later felt close to by proximity of this blog? I can’t imagine any of us holding you to account for saying something in the past, who cares? One would hope that being disagreeable one day is forgotten the next, all in good fun, we are adults. Going through old comments…one should also be allowed to change one’s mind with new information. Stand up for yourself man.
Nah. It mostly relates to comments I made about individuals I know IRL. Did not know them as well, then. I was far more self-righteous. All the bs about me being a cross-dresser, etc., that never really bothered me. It was about about much more than that. Your way of viewing it is neither superior nor inferior. It’s simply different.
Boz I have no hard feelings toward you.You have always given as much as you get.Quit whining.
For several years you have made racist comments about my bi-racial grandchildren…only thing I have never forgiven you for…an apology would help…???
My plate is full…work…health…family etc…maybe just quit trying to destroy everybody you don’t like or disagree with?
That’s a figment of your imagination, pogo.
I’m “biracial” myself, so why would I give a shit? Good Lord!
OK, here it is again! I followed each comment down the line and put in an ‘up vote’ one each but it did not take instantly as it usually does – there was a delay of about 3-6 seconds. Then when I attempt to do this post nothing happened for about 1.5 to 2 minutes. Again this is now 12.30pm EDT — the screwy shit happens about this time each night. It’s almost as though some asshole is looking over my shoulder as I type .
Mine just was instantaneous on your comment. Odd. I was having problems a few weeks ago, went into my c drive programs, and found malware and all sorts of crap. AVG did not catch it. I had to Bing the programs that looked funny (I’m a Bing evangelist, never use google except for the street view map function) to be sure they were malware programs and not something crucial to the OS. Went into Firefox and disabled Flash player, now I approve it on a site by site basis, easy, a window pops up asking me if I want to activate it now or always for a particular site. It took maybe three hours for me to cycle through everything, turn a bunch of things off, delete cookies, delete certificates. Oh, and this was prompted by me sitting here and the cursor moving on its own, so i know the feeling. The malware programs were bank-info-stealing related, one was called dependentlibs, wonder what site I got that from. It was like waking up hungover in the internet gutter and taking the walk of shame back home.
Interesting — I’ll follow through on mine…
No bi-racial – American.
You’re so much of a jerk that if I did something to piss you off I’d never want to apologize for it.
Don’t need your judgment. What’s it to you, anyway?
Fine. Do as you please, but you are the one who has attracted a lot of attention to yourself with this action you’ve taken.
There’s more going on than the action I’ve taken. It just happened to coincide with that action.
Alright. I take your word for it.
There’s some level of hacking going on. Likely done by the one who is always accusing everyone else of hacking him. That would be “fc”, also known by many other names on here and elsewhere, but known to me from years past as “pogo.” He’s trying to make it look as though Karl has done it, at Will’s behest. I think that’s BS. Take care, BB. We’ll talk another time.
lol…Will and Karl would probably tell you I am as bout as computer literate as Elmer Fudd. :)
I can’t ‘hack’ into my own bank accounts at times…guess it is called getting old…
I hope you find peace Boz.
I see you are playing “benevolent pogo” now. This will be followed by spittle-spewing attack mode.
So predictable.
Just unplug your modem and reset your IP address.
I immediately felt she was a plant. And you all?
I would ask Boz Martin.He apparently knows this SYNTwist.When he/she left a few days ago he posted to her,’I don’t want to lose contact with you again’.
Boz has posted he has had contacts with FBI previously? Who knows. Just weird.
She’s not FBI, pogo. That’s just more of your silly trollish provocation.
Why would ANYONE give a fuck about threats from this pissant Bingham? Who cares? What level of paranoia must one operate under that they flip out and delete their accounts? There are so very many real things to be paranoid about, an idle threat from a nobody state legislator, WHO CARES? Has no one see the The Nerve video of him on youtube flipping out because a constituent asked him a simple question? He’s strung tighter than a drum, it’s just all too silly.
I agree.
And from where does this ‘subpoena commenters ISPs’ notion originate? What would ‘they’ find anyway? That someone somewhere has an opinion? Has someone, now deleted, posted inside details of the machinations of Bingham’s life, business, etc? Several comments here do directly implicate him, and yet those comments stand. The original article about ethics violations is from December 2014. And yet this sets off a frenzy of witchcraft-trial like fear and deletion? Absurd. But good riddance. Politics is not for the gutless. And I hate to see this place degenerate into estrogen fueled cutesy and frilly curtains, so the fewer women the better.
I personally only don’t know shit about Bingham, other than what I read here.
don’t know about that, but new names keep appearing and disappearing — sometimes I have an idea who they are, but mostly I just keep plugging along — I am more comfortable with the usual commentaters(!)…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j8cnWqbvCTU
Isn’t if funny how you can always tell when it’s Flip/pogo/Sandi/Farley/fc?
I got a notice of ‘suspicious activity’ originating from FITS…on my Disqus Acct.
Wonder if has anything to do w/ the impending libel lawsuit.
GT, lots of missing commenters…I’m trying to catch up…reading backwards right now, very irritating. I did not know anything about the Sun, Boz, etc.
Strange happenings indeed, BB. I’m just glad to see you back contributing. You are one of the sharpest, and most well-read posters on here. I marvel at your knowledge, and ability to articulate.
Hope FITS is not doing anything nefarious, purposely. And hope he is not a victim of the Democrat dirty trick squads. Not even he deserves that kind of treatment.
But if your readers’ personal info. is EVER compromised, that is website suicide.
Dittos to that!
What? .. What? … We could be onto yet another conspiracy!
Somebody took a data dump. lol
GT, where would I find that message?
I was advised to change my password via e-mail.
thanks, I’ll look at it tonight
Click on GT’s or Bern’s handle … That reveals the post string(s) @ Disqus, ted. … Mine reads like a peyote crazed old white man wailing in the wilderness … My bad: I’ll do better.
I wasn’t clear, but wanted to see if I had a message from Disqus….
Probably just wanted your Mother’s meatloaf recipe.
GT I am not seeing anything ‘suspicious’…no ‘suspicious activity’ etc…alerts from my email providers.
The deletion of accounts appears to be limited to Boz and the drunken SYNTwist. Not sure what they are up to but they sure appear nervous bout something.Think they after Fits?
Never hurts to change passwords.Boz has mentioned his contacts with the FBI on other forums.
fc: I don’t too much read Syn Twist or Boz, unless they direct comment toward me. But I hear the same about them from others about the two going after FITS. What were they doing?
I do think Boz takes this seriously, and tries to use any means possible to damage those not in his kooky-world of booze and smoke…And Syn Twist was a little unstable, it seemed…
All that said: the plot is compelling. Can you tell me what you know?
Really don’t know anything else. It MAY be just that the apparently unstable/wino SYNTwist got Boz all worked up about her lies and false allegations of somebody on Fits ‘hacking’ er email account. Boz repeated a similar lie last night.
Neither one of em appears stable and like you prefer just to stay away from both unless a comment is directed to me.
I have seen this ‘act’ before by the ‘fly’.Best to just stay away from the clown unless you are forced to defend yourself.
I have not been thrown off of FITS yet. That may come to pass. I am proud to say I was thrown off of The UK Guardian blog for naming names and calling those on the UK dole “welfare sluts”.
What did you post last time? I’ll read it.
People threw themselves off, keep reading below…go Cameron!
Welcome to the Volvo plant and workers. I’d just as soon the Volvo drivers live somewhere else though.
Where do you think yodelling came from?
Texas?
Those cowboys and cow punchers out on the prairie during those loooong cattle drives, all alone with just each other for company? That’s where yodeling comes from?
Bring up the visual. Wait. Never mind. Mungo likes beans
( chuckle! )
Does anyone know that the original meaning of :mungo” is “shoddy”?
Look it up in American Heritage dictionary…. Then think about suburban Irmo, and all the problems they have there…
You are the first person I have ever encountered that also knew the meaning of mungo.
As in: Þæs ceasterhof sy mungo shite.
They had stump trained heifers.
good one!
That’s where it went to die.
go back pack another bowl and get back to watching workaholics dip shit.
awww… how cute. Another fan.
Switzerland. Dumb as dirt eh.
Blonde white people with blue eyes all look the same to me.
You want music? See my youtube links at near the newest comments.
Sikh governess who is a first generation immigrant recruits a Swedish American Chinese company to South Carolina and using tons of taxpayer $$$ as bait, and so called “Christian Conservatives” cheer. China persecutes, Christians, encourages and used to force abortions, and runs massive organ harvesting operations in their prisons. The people that support this boondoggle call themselves “Pro-Life” and patriotic. What kind of Bizzaro World am I living in?
You are living in a world where the tax codes favor the offshore Billionair$ and are directly aimed at killing USA small business … Oh Bummer.
The owner of Volvo is Asian and our governor is Asian. These people obviously stick together. Laissez les bon temps rouler.
Hope Volvo ships some of those Swedish “unga flickors” over here with the deal.
As if you have a chance with them.
Probably going to send 4,000 Chinese workers.
No, but they are going to send 4,000 Chinese landlords … See FITS of the last week re: Chinese buying SC beach front. Inscrutable fur sure.
“South Carolina workers remain … dirt poor.”
One has to apply for the job, show up regularly, clean and sober, ready and willing for several years before one becomes a part of the middle class.
Go figure.
$13-$15 an hour won’t get you to the middle class. What percentage of the workforce at BMW are really contractors, not employees of BMW who makes marginal wages.? BTW, they get the best shifts
I respectfully disagree. A married couple each making $15 bucks an hour grosses $62,400 annually. Throw in a modest 5-10% in OT and they’re pushed up around $65-68k. That’s not “let’s go look at a new Gulfstream V” money, but you can make a decent life in SC’s economy on $60k. Even a single worker making $15 bucks an hour with a little OT hits in the mid 30’s. Using the standard $25-75k definition for middle class (which puts a fourth of workers below and a fourth or workers above to make it the “middle half”), our $15/hour exemplar dude is right in there.
And bennies on top of that are a nice package, sick pay, annual leave days, and health insurance puts the income much higher. It’s tough, don’t get me wrong, but it is better than…nothing at all.
Precisely! There seems to be this notion floating around these days that no one should have to start in an entry level gig, or work to learn a trade, or go to college and get STEM or other professional degree. Just show up and we’ll start you at around a hundred K…
Life in SC on $35k won’t get you on Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous, but if you don’t have to drive a new car every two years, own every redneck toy under the sun, waste a couple hundred bucks a month on the stupid tax (i.e., lottery tickets), or be on a first name basis with the folks at the liquor store (or your weed dealer), you can live a helluva lot better than most of the people IN THE WORLD.
Here’s the kicker- what if our imaginary $35k worker gets in there pulling a lever and punching a button on a press, but he works hard, shows up for work on time, learns the ropes, and gets promoted. He keeps learning the company culture, working hard, and increasing his skill level (thus, his value to the operation) and within 5-10 years he’s likely some kind of supervisor (and no longer making $35k). Weird how that works, no?
Ignore all these spoil sports. Go my most recent comment and celebrate with ABBA.
And consistently staying employed, drawing that paycheck every two weeks year in and year out, getting and staying married, building credit, learning how to take care of your things, cutting out the ridiculous monthly cell phone bills, learning how to shop smart, not eating out every meal, and controlling the number of children you have, before you know it, as a couple you break the 70k threshold, the 85k threshold, and so on. It’s called life. Or it used to be. Three things to keep a person out of poverty: high school education, get married/no kids out of wedlock, and work consistently. Believe me, it took me years to figure it out, I had to spend my post-college years as a downtown NY party girl, but I wised up eventually.
Folks can cry about being shut out of the mainstream, but it’s open to all comers. That is, if you can show up for work, do what you’re told, wear appropriate clothing, and communicate properly in some form of the Queen’s English (although that last bit has been disproven by many an immigrant who landed on our shores with little or no English). People today just don’t want to do the work; they expect to show up with their silly-ass iPod shoved in their ears, wearing stupid clothes, and generally acting (and speaking) like morons. Work can be hard, but life is easy if you let it be…
Don’t forget dental. It takes a lot to repair Meth damage.
Road Apples! A $13-$15 per hour job give one the freedom to pay rent, buy food, pay utilities, pay taxes …
If you believe that a decent hourly paying job above “minimum” wage is not worth it, then it’s not worth it For You.
Quit whining about who get what that you don’t.
Very well said, Fast Eddie. Very well said.
Yeah!
Points well-taken Eddy (and Mike). My comment about $13-$15 an hour not being middle class was just as much (likely more) about what “middle class” used to mean in terms of lifestyle, security, opportunity, and helping the next generation–than the pure statistic of where you fall in the income distribution. Maybe a better comment would have included my belief that, especially on the lower end, “middle class” isn’t what it used to be. When it takes 2 full-time workers to grind out $55K a year and 40-50+% of the second wage is going to expenses of the second income (childcare, car repair and maintenance, clothes, insurance, more meals eaten out because parents are exhausted), it’s no wonder that, while people are getting by, they wonder what happened to the American Dream. “Middle Class” used to be the pathway to the American Dream. Social and economic mobility aren’t what they once were.
Nice concept HOWEVER….the perpetual welfare train ain’t going away…who pays for it? Why shouldn’t EVERYBODY contribute?
Amen.
Is there any oversight of these deals or can Nikki Haley and Bobby Hitt give our money away with no one to stop them?
There is supposed to be a council that provides oversight. Coordinating Council for Economic Development. It just does what Nikki wants. It’s composed of her yes men.
Quality of life is not measured in buying jobs like Volvo (which is a Chinese owned company, btw); instead, it is measured in the quality of an area’s natural resources, wildlife, sustainable growth, and intelligent/moral/ethical people who create their OWN economic engines and economic niches… think Switzerland gives a rat’s a$$ about buying jobs with all of their local skilled talent? Think about it, would you rather live in the Irmo of the 1960s, or, Irmo now?
These jobs (like those at Boeing) are not being filled by South Carolinians … no – no – no. People are moving here from other states to take these jobs while current residents of the state get pushed to the side. Meanwhile, traffic in the Charleston is sooooooo bad … crime so out of control … and the cost of living there is so much higher than the rest of the state …. you’d have to be a fool to want to take up residence there.
That’s because the SC workforce isn’t educated enough to fill those and other jobs. They’d go to us if we weren’t so damn dumb, drunk, mentally ill, etc. And I’m in a really good mood right now.
Exactly when your workforce is comprised mainly of high school drop outs who only want to work long enough to become unemployment eligible so they can sit around fishing and drinking why would a company even attempt to hire them. There are jobs for skilled workers out there, the problem is companies have to look outside the state to find qualified people.
There is that, fur sure. There are also a significant population of aircraft engineers, machinists and assembly line workers in other states who are specifically Moving To South Carolina To Get Away From Those Seattle and Chicago Union Thugs.
Check out the Fairfax, VA school board meeting from 5/7, it’s on youtube, about transgender bathrooms in the schools, it’s worth the time, starts about 30 minutes in, unbelievable.
Well, then SC voters (and teachers) should pay real close attention … If they want any resemblance to a civilized community, they should learn the who, how and what of those “progressive” Fascist elites manipulating the dumb downed and clueless …
Teachers, if you want to continue to teach the three Rs, and not get all balled up in defending your real job, watch when those pedophilic social “just us” fools start sniffing around. They want Your job and They want real teachers out. THAT IS Their agenda. They WANT the education system so screwed up and so disrupted and so dependent on the “progressive” elites that the voters no longer care about or even know what they vote for.
The Truth Hurts, or Yogi Berra, “Charleston is so crowded, no one wants to live there any more. ” Hahahahah
Totally with Fits on this one. It’s all about a race to the bottom here. Haley can claim she’s a winner b/c she “created” jobs. However, the road S.C. seems to be going down is that they use undisclosed hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars to subsidize (i.e. pick winners and losers) with the promise to the corporates that they’ll get a subservient and low paid workforce with minimum benefits to maximize profits even further.
In honor of the greatest SC news with the exception of Boeing in twenty years. In celebration of and as a welcome to the second greatest import from Sweden, Volvo. With the greatest import from Sweden:
First a consolation to Nathan Deal ‘ s “Waterloo”
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Sj_9CiNkkn4
And to Haley, our states “Dancing Queen”:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xFrGuyw1V8s
It’s a Chinese company now. How about “China Girl” instead.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_8IXx4tsus
“Similarly aircraft manufacturer Boeing has had to import big chunks of its South Carolina workforce from Seattle.” Not even remotely accurate. Less than 5% of the BSC workforce comes from the PNW. Most have been hired both locally or direct hired from contractors.
Stop with the facts!! Folks does not want them destroying his agenda!
That agenda being?
Aside from the immorality of redistributing tax payer money so a small segment of SC society can benefit from the others wealth- The actual calculation of the costs involved will never be fully disclosed by our rulers and the total cost/benefit relationship, negative or positive, will never be fully understood.
Also, the fact is that Volvo, now being Chinese owned, will behave in the same manner as other Chinese companies in state(and most Japanese ones too):
Their cost structure is such that they will get as much done as possible in the homeland because the cost structure is so much different/low, minimizing the use of outside contractors/in state businesses as much as possible.
So in essence, the SC taxpayer will subsidize this Chinese companies efforts to avoid import tariff’s in exchange for decent paying jobs for an extremely small percentage of of SC’s population.
Pols and the unknowing will claim “victory” because it furthers the fascism business model, by which they directly benefit, citing Boeing/BMW as proof.
Li Shufu wins. Haley & company wins. 2000 people(who knows how many will be SC residents) will win….but at what cost?(no one knows)
As a retiree I thank my luck stars I won’t be helping pay off these millions in loans to create jobs for other people. And remember, it’s only 2000 jobs now (2016 or so), 4000 in maybe 10 years, long after those youth jubilant about Volvo now will have moved out of state in desperation. You can bet Nikki is claiming 4000 jobs created this very instant, however.
The way you respond to good news…. you should quit biting down on those lemons. Of course you don’t like it. You’ve retired. You got yours. The hell with younger people.
It’s even “as many as” 2,000 initial jobs. Still, there will be a lot of workers moving to S.C. with their families in tow. I’m just glad it’s far enough away from Charleston that it will hard for people to live here and commute out there. It’s already crowded as hell with the transplants here. There will probably be even more growth in Summerville though.
I don’t think really that you cannot admit this is a good thing. It most certainly is. But it’s not a Super Bowl win. In order for it to fully work, and benefit the current citizens of SC there will be a cost. Not just the incentives, those are clear. But in terms of the workforce 5 years plus out. Anyone thinkswhenf this plant is up and running say end of 2016 that 4,000 SC residents are getting $15 to $20 an hour jobs are kidding themselves. The recruiting will be national. Yes, there will be some from Anderson and Greeneville who leave BMW to move to Charleston. But there will be former Ford employees from Atlanata, employees from TN, KY and OH as well. The initial 2,000 employees will mainly come from out of state. Volvo will be expecting Charleston and Berkley County (and the state for other counties) to improve the skill levels of graduates to meet their needs. If after 15 years that hasn’t happened, they’ll move. Plan and simple. And there’s not free money out there for SC to inact some education reform to get there. It will mean tough choices – beyond just the idea of “free market” principals for public schools. Vouchers, blah, blah, won’t cut it. There will need, at some point very soon, for a serious effort at the local and state level to reform the school systems to generate the skill-leveled employees. Just a hint, but if you want to decrease unemployment in places like Jasper, Barnwell and other rural counties, you need to upskill those future graduates so they can move to Charleston, or Greeneville, or York, and get good paying jobs.
What I love about you Rocky is you can take a weekend off and be ready to regurgitate the state/American hating, SCDP/DNC talking points with NO shame.
Tiger looks bad,doesn’t he?
Yeah, he really sucked. Still draws throngs of people to follow him. Always best to plan lunch when he’s on the back nine – no lines. The young studs were playing well though. Hadn’t been there for like 10 years – was just awe inspiring how they turn that course into a huge stadium now. Traffic was a bear, but we had friends that lived fairly close, so we could just walk the 1/2 mile in. I think the Saturday cruise down A1A was better. Yeah, never take wife and two girls to a golf tournament, you want to see golf, they want to shop.
You do have several valid points.
I would argue that the majority of new hires at Volvo will be locals. Yes, Volvo will be hiring out-of-state experienced car and truck makers in order to train and help the local workforce get up to speed on modern vehicle manufacturing methods.
We’ll see. I think a vast majority in the first 2000 will not be local. Now there will be spin off, new restaurants, bars, some home building. But in order for Berkley and Charleston counties to meet the labor demand they’ll need to upskill future graduates. Just that simple.
If only we could run our state into the ground so that people won’t want to live here. Fits tries but we’re still the tenth fastest growing. And it isn’t a higher birth rate. People want to live here. What a shame. I blame it on failed state policies. If only they could make life more miserable, maybe they wouldn’t want to live here.
South Carolina is indeed a gift from God.A beautiful state.
A lot of the population moving in is retirees who are cheap as hell.
Only benefactors are the support jobs in the low country for the well-heeled and eventually the assisted living homes who pay squat for caretakers but charge anywhere from $3k-$10k/month for eldercare.
The retirees moving here are a bargain. We don’t have to pay for theirs or their children’s education. They are generally law abiding. They don’t take locals’ jobs. They spend and pay taxes. No one forces people to take caretaker jobs. People must want those jobs.
Long term care, is far more expensive than educating children,
The state doesn’t pay for that. You pay thru Fed or private coverage. Either way it is better if spent in SC.
But they drive too slow.
What kind of accents do they have in inner-city Detroit? Will we be able to understand them? Will we get some Motown sound? Good authentic blues?
500 million wont get you much of an auto plant. What are they planning on doing there? Putting the wheels on? Paint shop alone would cost about half that. I think they are just importing the car and putting the wheels on here. Maybe the battery too.
Bingo!
It’s like that TV assembly plant in Winnsboro. I believe they also slap “Made in America” stickers on their assembled product too….lulz
There’s an article on The State website talking about this plant. It pretty much is just a final assembly operation. They are not even building a paint plant, which means every piece shipped from China will even come painted.
The article also said the Chinese might use the leftover land to build Chinese-designed cars. I’m sorry, but I don’t see Americans wanting a car designed in China.
Why not? Everything else we use is designed in China. Or was the computer you’re typing on designed and built in Oklahoma?
in this day and age, you have to compete for these big businesses to locate in your state. the key is to have an agreement that will require sufficient investment and tie the business to the land/state for as long as possible. vw had a plant in PA and they left after the incentives ran out.
I would ask all those for or against Volvo coming to SC to take a close look at VW in Chattanooga. The similarities are very close. I see the short and long term value of the plant vs the investment. Others may see it differently but my point is you have a very clear example at the VW plant now in its 5th year. You may draw your conclusions from that example.
It’s tough to draw comparisons as the companies are drastically different, for example:
#1 German ownership vs. Chinese (and the cost of production differences)
#2 VW sells around 10,000,000 cars a year as a whole, Volvo, around 300,000.(think scale)
There are a host of other differences as well but I’m not in the mood to type them all at this moment.
Long term though, and putting aside the moral issue of redistributing wealth from poorer people/companies to larger ones, you have to ask what a more effective long term strategy might be: Redistribution or tax breaks?
Grandpa, was there really a time when companies opened factories without forcing taxpayers to pay for it?
Not really. Corporations have been raping taxpayers since before the Great Depression. Things got better for the average folks for a while, in the 40s, 50s and 60s; but started going back down hill in the 1980s.
Also, thank NAFTA. Most of the new automobile plants are opening up in Mexico. We have to bribe companies to manufacture here because we’re competing against workers who make less in a day and some American workers make in an hour.
Stop being so negative. Shufu needs South Carolina’s money to make luxury cars for liberals that no one in SC can afford.
N. Haley is a winner!