Dan Froomkin writes about the symbolic politics of employment:
washingtonpost.com: Bush Backdrop Turns Sour: When President Bush visited a Timken Co. ball-bearing plant in Canton, Ohio, a year ago, he told workers that their optimism about the future of their company inspired his optimism about the future of the economy. A photo from his talk at Timken leads the White House Web site's "Building America's Economy Photo Essay." It shows Bush standing in front of a glorious red, white and blue "Jobs and Growth" banner. As he said at the time, the "greatest strength of the American economy is found right here, right in this room, found in the pride and skill of the American work force."
Last week, Timken announced that the folks right there in that room are getting fired. Timken, the world's largest industrial bearings maker, whose chairman is a major donor and fundraiser for the Republican Party, plans to shut down three factories in Canton and eliminate 1,300 jobs.... Mark Naymik writes in the Cleveland Plain Dealer: "When President Bush needed a factory floor to serve as a prop for an economic speech last year, Canton-based Timken Co. opened its doors. But the maker of bearings delivered a symbolic political blow Friday to the president's re-election bid in Ohio, when it announced plans to close three plants in Canton and eliminate 1,300 jobs....
Gloria Irwin of the Akron Beacon-Journal writes about why Timken closed the plants: "Costs of production at three Timken Co. bearing plants in Canton are far higher than at other company plants and at competitors -- partially because the union workers continue to receive full, company-paid hospitalization." Thomas W. Gerdel writes in the Cleveland Plain Dealer that Timken plans to move production "elsewhere." Timken is currently Canton's largest employer, but has 56 bearings plants in 27 countries....
Here is the text of Bush's remarks in April of last year.
"Tim told me that this is a company -- we are a 'roll up your sleeves' company, a can -- it is a can-do environment," Bush said. "Which is one of the reasons I've got so much optimism about the future of our economy -- because of the 'roll up your sleeves' attitude by thousands of our fellow Americans, because of the business sense of 'we can do whatever it takes to overcome the obstacles in our way'. I know you're optimistic about the future of this company. I'm optimistic about the future of our country. . . .
"I appreciate the Timken family for their leadership, their concern about their fellow associates. They're working hard to make sure the future of this company is bright, and therefore, the future of employment is bright for the families that work here, that work to put food on the table for their children."...
Opensecrets.org shows that the Timken Company and various Timken family members in Ohio have given more than $1 million in the past three elections -- as far as I can tell, pretty much all to Republicans.
It's an interesting time to shut a plant: demand for capital goods--including ball bearings--is on the rise, and the value of the dollar is falling, making producing in the U.S. relatively more attractive.
And it does highlight the big economic policy mystery: why was the Bush administration so eager to ram through tax cuts--especially the cut in dividend taxes--that had so little stimulative effect on aggregate demand? Why didn't they craft a real job-creating economic stimulus program in late 2002?
Posted by DeLong at May 19, 2004 07:50 AM | TrackBack | | Other weblogs commenting on this postAh yes, the joys of free trade, and the difficulty of moving capital. Once more we see how important both are to our prosperity.
Posted by: Eli Rabett on May 19, 2004 08:20 AM"Why didn't they craft a real job-creating economic stimulus program in late 2002?"
The answer to that question Brad, is a simple as it is sobering:
Believe it or not, some people, even some "rich" people...
"TAXING"
http://newyorker.com/talk/content/?040126ta_talk_cassidy
... REALLY DO believe their own lies. One needn't NECESSARILY hail from Texas to understand the phenomenon either. But sometimes, I guess, it helps...
Dallas
Jimmie Dale Gilmore
http://www.jimmiegilmore.com/
Did you ever see Dallas from a DC-9 at night?
Well Dallas is a jewel, oh yeah, Dallas is a beautiful sight.
And Dallas is a jungle but Dallas gives a beautiful light.
Did you ever see Dallas from a DC-9 at night?
-----------
Well, Dallas is a woman who will walk on you when you're down.
But when you are up, she's the kind you want to take around.
But Dallas ain't a woman to help you get your feet on the ground.
Yes Dallas is a woman who will walk on you when you're down.
-----------
Well, I came into Dallas with the bright lights on my mind,
But I came into Dallas with a Dollar and a dime.
-----------
Dallas is a rich man with a death wish in his eye.
A steel and concrete soul with a warm hearted love disguise.
A rich man who tends to believe in his own lies.
Dallas is a rich man with a death wish in his eyes.
I find the answer "gets them the most money" works for any and all questions about Republicans.
Posted by: Tim H. on May 19, 2004 10:02 AM"And it does highlight the big economic policy mystery: why was the Bush administration so eager to ram through tax cuts--especially the cut in dividend taxes--that had so little stimulative effect on aggregate demand? Why didn't they craft a real job-creating economic stimulus program in late 2002?"
I thought Suskind's book about O'Neill answered that one: they figured the economy would rebound on its own, and after their success in the 2002 midterm elections, they decided they deserved to give themselves a big sloppy wet kiss in the form of a dividend tax cut.
Posted by: RT on May 19, 2004 12:39 PMRepeat after me, Brad: It's more important to reward your rich contributors than it is to help the $35,000/year crowd. After all, the latter are mostly Democrats anyway.
Posted by: Rebecca Allen, PhD on May 19, 2004 12:50 PMSo much for Bush's optimism.
Surprise, surprise! Some wingnuts are saying that either A) the union and workers are purposely refusing to negotiate a new contract to force the plant closings just to embarrass Bush, or B) the workers deserve to be unemployed because they refuse to work for the same wages as people in Malaya.
Posted by: Derelict on May 19, 2004 01:20 PMDaniel Altman seems to be on to something:
The Neoconomists
The Bush administration's other revolutionaries.
By Daniel Altman
http://www.indi.ca/indica/2004/05/neocono.html
The nation's current economic policy came to Washington in care of R. Glenn Hubbard and Lawrence B. Lindsey, who spent roughly the first two years of the Bush administration as the chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers and chairman of the National Economic Council, respectively.
For years, both men had been ardent supporters of the notion that income from savings and wealth was taxed too much. In 1990, Lindsey wrote that "with only a very modest loss of tax revenue, the tax system can be reformed to substantially encourage the savings we need to sustain our investment in a more productive economy." A decade later, Hubbard and a co-author wrote that savings and wealth had "long and widely been acknowledged as especially impaired by taxation."
Hubbard and Lindsey saw cutting taxes on savings and wealth as a recipe for faster growth. Their plans were consistent with supply-side economics, which had dominated Republican policy for decades, since they targeted the economy's long-run potential to grow rather than short-run fine-tuning of demand. But the focus on savings was a departure from earlier conservative doctrine.
With George W. Bush's cooperation, the first steps have already been taken. So far, the president has signed bills eliminating the estate tax, lowering the tax rates on dividends and capital gains, and helping companies to reduce the tax they pay on their profits. In addition, by cutting rates for "ordinary" income, the Bush administration has lowered taxes on interest payments, rental income and income from mutual funds, and pensions and retirement accounts. (Though slated to be temporary, the Bush administration is campaigning to make its tax breaks permanent.) All of these changes make it relatively more attractive to accumulate wealth than to spend money.
In addition, the White House is pushing for an initiative that would almost single-handedly accomplish Hubbard and Lindsey's goal: a huge expansion of tax-free savings accounts. And the growth of these tax-free savings accounts would dovetail well with the White House's plan for reforming Social Security, which calls for the creation of another type of tax-free investment account for every working American.
Posted by: bakho on May 19, 2004 01:27 PMIn reality the workers were never presented any option but that the 3 plants are being closed. The only reason these plants are being closed is because the company has to pay these workers health care.
Posted by: me on May 19, 2004 05:34 PMBrad you remember
Glenn Hubbard said it was a "game changer".
Sortof like when Tenet said he had a slam dunk case on WMD. I'd say we should say it would be a home run if W ran home to Texas instead of running for re-election.
Brad, I don't think any kind of "job-creation stimulus program" is going to work when healthcare is so expensive for full-time employees.
Posted by: Ken on May 20, 2004 08:23 PM"He was an inch, perhaps two, under six feet, powerfully built,
and he advanced straight at you with a slight stoop of the
shoulders, head forward, and a fixed from-under stare which
made you think of a charging bull." Conrad, "Lord Jim"
I can't help thinking over yet over again this BushCo production
of "Lord Jim in Iraq" is just so much high school variety show,
with George himself miscast as Jim, his lack of life experience
leaving no skills to play Jim's part in pathos. Instead we get a
braggado and buffoonery of the sophomore self-mesmerized.
Then there's Chalabi in the role of Chester, a silk-suited prig
riche, playing the part of that "barrel-chested pearler, wrecker,
trader, whaler (and con man)". Allied with Chalabi-Chester, there's
Don Rumsfeld playing Old Robinson the Cannibal, a captain who lost
his ship on the reef, and then ate his fellow cast-aways.
"He's got a little money, so I had to let him into my thing,"
winces Chester-Chalabi, hiding a silk-pursed smirk, "Had to!"
So he brings Robinson-Rumsfeld in, singing the siren song of
"rose petals and sweets" and with him the Neo-Luddites, Rove,
Wolfowitz, Cheney and Perle, all self-deluded academics and
bureaucrats of no account and no life experience themselves,
conned by the greater con, as is every miscreants bitter end.
Together, they sell Jim-George on the adventure of a life time.
A war of conquest against impossible odds, its approaches too
dangerous, and no safe anchorage save far beneath a cliff. Their
ship a mere shell, an old, brig-rigged lugger of ninety horses,
crammed with civilian advisors and henchmen lusting for gold.
Chester-Chalabi as the thief-conman, Robinson-Rumsfeld as the
cannibal-captain, and Jimmy-George, the strumpeting lunatic.
It's a tragi-comedy in a way. Jim-George over-acting his part,
soto voce falsetto "bring it on", we sail with the crew towards
our island of guano, and guano it is, sticking, deep, sucking.
We are trapped now, all of US mired in an ancient chess game,
taken en passant. And Jim-George, so inept, like those losers
on American Idol, has no clue how effetely he plays.
So there we're sucked in now, our $100's of BILLION dollars gone,
our own little Iraq of guano, our ship wrecked beneath the cliff,
our captain, Cannibal Rumsfeld, shrieking "I'm a survivor!" when
he'd as soon eat our livers with fava beans and a nice Chianti.
It's interminable, this last act. Will it never end? Will the
curtain never come down on this cosmic farce of a tragi-comedy??
"And that's the end. GW passes away under a cloud, inscrutable
at heart, forgotten, unforgiven, and excessively romantic."
Ahh, there it is, the curtain call! God, I love high-school!
http://www.cia.gov/cia/reports/Demo_Trends_For_Web.pdf
Posted by: Tante Aime on May 24, 2004 12:23 AMExcellent Post. If you have a chance, visit my site - Cheap Cigarettes
Posted by: Cheap Cigarettes on June 17, 2004 12:57 PMyeehh - BRUSSELS, Belgium -- European Union leaders have overcome their differences to agree to the bloc's first constitution and are pushing ahead with their search for a compromise candidate to be the next European Commission president.
Posted by: govard on June 20, 2004 12:55 PMGreat post. Visit my site if ya want: Dental Insurance
Posted by: Dental Insurance on July 8, 2004 12:36 PMHey, nice blog. Come see me if you can - Dental Insurance
Posted by: Dental Insurance on July 9, 2004 05:03 AMheh, A fast-spreading mutant strain of syphilis has proved resistant to the antibiotic pills that are offered to some patients. The increase in the mutant strain was largely among gay or bisexual men with multiple partners.
The Statue of Liberty, recently reopened after a two-year closure, stashing a package offers a glimpse into the future. To rent, close and reopen lockers, visitors touch an electronic reader that scans fingerprints.
http://casino.xthehun.com
http://gambling.xthehun.com
http://online.xthehun.com