An American Brand Name Heads to Mexico - After Taking Economic Recovery Funds
There was a time when American businesses actually took pride in being American businesses, employing Americans. Now that The World Is Flat, companies are in a constant game of musical chairs, seeking out the cheapest possible foreign locations to bump the price of stocks.
Even if a federal subsidy helped them bump up their first quarter profits:
NEW YORK (AP) -- Federal rebates for energy-efficient appliances pulled shoppers back into stores, helping Whirlpool Corp.'s revenue rise and its first-quarter profit more than double, the company said.
Guess how Whirlpool is repaying American taxpayers for their support:
Whirlpool Corporation is shutting down a refrigerator plant in Evansville, Indiana that will put 1100 people out of work. Are they having trouble selling refrigerators in these bad economic times? No. Whirlpool is profitable and still selling plenty of refrigerators here. But they want to ship these jobs to Mexico where they can produce them cheaper and without having to respect U.S. labor and environmental regulations.
Whirlpool took $19 million in economic recovery money and now instead of helping our economy recover, it’s destroying 1100 good American jobs. The AFL-CIO has started an online petition drive telling Whirlpool to “Keep It Made In America” to save our jobs. You can find it at unionvoice.org/campaign/Evansville.
The AFL-CIO says Whirlpool should reverse its decision to keep these 1100 jobs in the U.S. and help our economic recovery. The labor federation says taxpayer economic recovery money should be used to create jobs in America, not ship them to cheap labor markets in other countries.
I know if I ever buy another refrigerator, it won't be a Whirlpool.
They can be e-mailed here.
Corruption favors the wealthy.
contact Whirlpool---get to them over and over...Stop this BS now.
why the hell latin folks keep crossing the border.
everyone says it's about jobs but...
...the jobs are going the other way!
audit-prosecute-incarcerate
I live in the south. If things get too rough, I'll just sneak across the border and get a job.
Don't forget the number of jobs lost when Whirlpool bought Maytag. Newton, IA was devastated.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?...
I was born and raised in Newton, and I remember it well. Maytag invented the automatic washing machine, and the company was in Newton for well over 100 years. They were good to the community and vice-versa. The last President of Maytag came from Whirlpool, and many people believe that he ruined the company to make it a target for the buyout.
No laws saying that if you took the money you had to stay like there should have been.
Corporations are required by law to maximize profits, even at the cost of the environment, their labourers and the communities that they exist in.
If they don't then they can be sued by the shareholders (usually the richest few who own the most shares mind you) for being responsible.
In other words in the US corporations are required by law to be completely irresponsible, low life, scum sucking individuals (they are after all people by law).
Now if you or I acted like your typical corporation we'd be put away for many many many years and never have a pot to piss for the rest of our lives. But that's just what happens to "real" people in the US, not fictional "people" with the "same" rights.
Whirlpool take the money and make a run for the border, like hundreds upon hundreds of so-called "US companies" before them. I give them 2 years tops before they close down the Mexico operation and move all production to China. The only thing that surprises me is that they haven't done so already.
Keep in mind that Whirlpool owns other brands:
Amana, Jenn-Air, Kitchen aide,Maytag, Roper, Magic Chef and Whirlpool.
I came here to post exactly that. They manufacture products that get relabeled/rebranded by both stores and other manufacturers, so it's important to research your purchase before you buy.
The LLC for which I work purchased several dorm-sized Magic Chef refrigerators for their motel rooms. After just over two years, almost all have broken down and been junked out.
Magic Chef's dishwashers are at the bottom of Consumer Reports' ratings, its fridges stink, and Maytag now requires more repairs than its competitors. The Cleveland, TN plant must be staffed by meth monsters. If they can't hire competent assemblers or make competent parts, let Whirlpool relocate south of the Styx, because I will not buy their products new with their record of poor performance.
why did the stimulus bill contain $19 million in corporate welfare for Whirlpool?
Why would they get that money anyway, they weren't a holding bank nor were they in dire need.
Pork?
Louis, Frederick and Emory Upton founded the Upton Machine Company and began to produce electric, motor-driven wringer washers in 1911. This was the beginning of Whirlpool.
Rep. Fred Upton (R-MI) is a grandson of Frederick. Coincidence? Who knows.
What a deal , Mexican illegals / undocumented come here and take jobs , lowering our wages and our corporations ( many of whom we bailed out ) send their factories and work to Mexico . Maybe this will cure the illegal / undocumented problem ? Meanwhile I'm laid off like millions of other American citizens , unemployed thanks to the greedy American crooks and criminals who destroyed the entire world's economy and cannot find a job to save my life . The politicians together with "the haves" are completely shitting on us all , on both sides of the border , they are destroying this country , gutting this country of it's very core so that the rich and wealthy can profit all the more . We're going to be a feudal system ,the wealthy Kings , Queens , Lords and we the peasants , their subjects , that's where we are going . I guess the F'ers in DC figure we can just keep printing out dollar bills and borrowing money .
I love that argument. As if that's the fucking answer for everything..
I guess they have every "right" to move production to Mexico. What's funny is that ordinary working Americans (meaning that 99 percent of Americans fall into that category) just shrug their shoulders and say "oh well". As if this is just the natural progression of things.
I had one guy tell me that he didn't want his kids to grow up to work in a factory anyway, but to shoot higher.. I started to explain about how it's all connected, jobs matter here, factories employ more than just people that screw together widgets, etc... I just gave up.
Teh stupid, it fucking hurts..
I'll tell you two things: One, Their fridges ain't going to get any cheaper. Two, they're going to be crap and break within a couple years..
I have a Whirlpool USA-made Kenmore and have for the last decade. Still works like a charm.
I had a Mexican-built Frigidaire washer that crapped out on me in 5 years. When I looked up the problem on the internet, the issue I had was tied directly to when they moved production and started making "disposable" washers.
Assholes.
Taco Bell?
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
hit them where it hurts. it's not like you're gonna lose anymore american jobs. might even encourage those thinking about going down the same line not to.
.trabajo.
is/has been happening due to outsourcing and off shoring. global capitalism has no loyalty. without knowing all the consequences/details........i believe a value tax should be accessed to each item sold in states. these corporations should NOT be allowed all the tax deductions when a majority of their operations is now abroad.
Global capitalism ... "the New World order" Bush Sr. proclaimed , the wealthy and the corporations , they don't give one damn about the country or the people , international boundaries are meaningless now , they are too big and powerful to give a shit , they're international , these mobsters and racketeers own governments , they own us as well .We the people ? What are we doing to defend ourselves and fight back ? Not an F'n thing . I think it's probably a blessing that I'm older and not in the best of health .
in Mexico for ages. My new (circa 2007) washing machine was manufactured in Mexico. I had to put out 3 service calls on it for bad manufacturing mistakes in the first three months.
I was shocked so I looked at where it was produced and sure enough it was Mexico. I thought when I bought it that it would have been manufactured in the USA. Stuff manufactured in Mexico and China is pure crap!
Government Motors is investing in Brazilian factories...
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/...
even the govt doesn't want to operate factories in the U.S.!!!
audit-prosecute-incarcerate
my Iowa built Maytag washer & dryer running so I don't have to buy one of them Mexican Whirlpool/Maytag pieces of crap.
Maytag Atlantis, the easiest washer to work on
their greed for my business. F*CK 'em
than never on this. The rank and file have been on this for months.
an American company. I felt the same way about chrysler when they took bailout money and moved a plant to mexico. I use to by chrysler but I haven't owned one since 1977. Now whirlpool will be the same.
I won't buy it!
I would look into the Staber, probably the most water efficient, easiest on clothes washer in existence. Unique design, made in Ohio too.
http://www.staber.com/
Just like the banks, the mining industry and the oil industry. Louses all of them--and the AZ law is designed to distract from these corporate crooks--and blame the brown, black and poor.
http://www.whirlpool.com/custserv/email_form.jsp
unionvoice.org/campaign/Evansville
I should have known but did not about Whirlpool heading to Mexico, until I went to buy appliances. My wife quickly told me "No way in hell are you to purchase anything made by Whirlpool". She explained what they were up to, and I agreed. I sent a letter to whirlpool (email) and told them about the kitchen full of items I needed but was not going to purchase from them, due to moving jobs.
What the ignorant don't understand is we can't be a nation of food servers. Someone has to earn enough money to come sit down in a restaraunt and eat. In a country of 300 million, around 11 million are actually manufacturing items. So, 3.7% of 300 million Americans actually produce goods. The rest are either retired/disabled/unemployed or sucking off the capital produced by that 3.7%. Now, that sounds bad but anyone not producing capital is riding the capital produced by manufacturing. The easy fix in my opinion is a tax on items produced overseas. Tax them so their labor rates equal what it would cost to produce, labor wise in the US. Now, companies could either pay up the added tax and still build cheaper overseas (due to less regulations...EPA,etc.) or move back here. If people say "corporations are bound to find cheaper.....blah blah blah.....or get sued by the shareholders". That's fine, they can show it's not cheaper to produce goods overseas and avoid lawsuits. I believe the true reason is to keep the stock markets happy so the CEO and board of directors get larger bonuses/stock options (that they convert into cash after inflating prices). I truly believe they give a crap less about shareholders since they all too often crash a business, get fired by said shareholders, and then jump ship with multi-million dollar parachutes.
"I know if I ever buy another refrigerator, it won't be a Whirlpool."
Better be careful - Whirlpool bought out Maytag a couple years back, making them nearly the only player in the appliances market. All the major names in the marketplace are just brands owned and manufactured by Whirlpool, including (but not limited to) Maytag, KitchenAid, Kenmore, Jenn-Air, Amana, Roper, Acros, Estate, Inglis, IKEA brand appliances, and Admiral.
BOYCOTT.
me-oww!
...but Mexicans illegally crossing the border to take jobs here -- that's OK.
So confusing.
picking 2 tons of tomatoes a day, 10/6? with shitty pay and conditions? Because those are the job requirements.
me-oww!
. . . a you writing about? Are you trying to build a strawman?
The truth is that if you need a new appliance it is almost impossible to find one built in the U.S. The few remaining that have U.S. plants also manufacture outside the country and you can't be sure where yours will come from until it's delivered and you see the paperwork. Until we address NAFTA and corporate taxation, jobs will continue to flee. Someday the American consumer will be gone because they won't have any good paying jobs to allow them to buy anything. By the way, my 24 year old American made GE may not have been energy efficient but it was far more solid than the new one.
Fine. Let's rescind all Whirlpool's defense contracts immediately.
Non-sociopathic managers around the world deal with high labor costs by reinvesting in their factories to make their workers more efficient.
The laid off 1100 plus the hundreds more at suppliers' factories will turn to the retail sector for work, and will only be able to afford appliances made by Chinese companies, not Whirlpool.
Damn Whirpool's ball-less managers.
...to avoid doing business with a Whirlpool company, or seemingly so, but one thing you can do is never buy one of their extended warranty rip-offs - Maytag is the primary ripper-offer. Before I experienced one of their scams, I had purchased a micowave (it was a Frigidaire but was made by Whirlpool and repaired by 'The Maytag Man'). Sometime during the three-year warranty period the thing went bad and when I tried to get them to fix it they claimed that the unit wasn't worth the fixin' and offered me a deeply discounted - useful life of product remaining - price. I refused and got the damn thing repaired for $20 someplace else. The scam part of it is that for about four years since that happened the a-holes have been sending me 'warning - your extended warranty on your microwave has expired and needs to be renewed' offer deals asking about twice what I paid for it in the first place. Don't do business with these jerks...for anything.
Gonna hit them where it hurts... I will get any other brand than Whirlpool.
Isn't there some way the Obama administration or Olbermann or Rachel Maddow or somebody, anybody, can shame these sons of bitches into doing what is good for America? Get on the stick here guys.
and it is a Maytag, made in Michigan....or so says the sticker on the inside.
I did my homework and inspected all of the refrigerators in the stores I shopped, after reviewing their capabilities, price, and features, I also sought out the manufacture point. Most were made in Mexico, probably rebranded and resold under a variety of names, others in South Korea.
I would not purchase a refrigerator, or dryer, or washing machine, made anywhere else but the USA.
I am not against foreign made products per se, but I am unemployed and if I don't want to be a hypocrit, then I need to research all of my purchases constantly.
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