i get the sense the editiorial writers of IBD are reading your anti california corp rants, lizzie
Article Title: "Benign Neglect "
Section: Issues & Insights
Date: 10/29/2003
Manufacturing: Two of California's most precious resources - one natural, the other man-made - are under duress. Noteworthy? Apparently not.
The first threat involves the 200-foot Washington Tree in Sequoia National Park. It's collapsed about 10% due to damage from a lightning-sparked fire that burned for months.
That's about all we know from the one inch of coverage the old tree got in the state's largest newspaper.
But that was an inch more than was given to the threat faced by the man-made resource - Intel Corp. CEO Craig Barrett told a conference in Florida the chipmaker is turning its back on California, the state in which it was founded, is based and employs 12,000 residents.
Barrett shook his head when asked if Intel would be hiring or adding a plant there soon. Not without regulatory changes, he said. Twenty years of "anti-business legislation" had taken their toll.
Neither the Los Angeles Times nor Intel's hometown newspaper reported Barrett's remarks. Or those of Carly Fiorina, CEO of Hewlett-Packard Co., who seconded them.
But hey, what's the big deal about Intel (total employment: 78,700 in 2002) and H-P (141,000) when Butler Wire & Metal Products of Menomonee Falls, Wis., has problems of its own?
Due to Chinese competition, Butler idled 19 of its 49 workers. This warranted a front-page story (with photos, charts and maps inside) in the Times two days after Barrett and Fiorina unloaded in Florida.
Why the difference in coverage? We can only assume that Butler's problem fits nicely with the case that the left-leaning media are building against President Bush - namely that it's his fault there are fewer jobs in manufacturing.
"George Bush had better get off his butt and start doing something," the Times quotes Cathy Schuldt, owner of Butler Wire. Schuldt says she's been a conservative Republican all her life, but would now vote for a Democrat who "saw the picture."
Schuldt's not alone. Other small manufacturers in Wisconsin have formed a group called Save American Manufacturing Now and are evaluating candidates based on their positions on trade. It's already endorsed Sen. Russell Feingold, a liberal Democrat.
We feel for Schuldt and other old-line manufacturers. They're caught in a worldwide, long-term economic trend marked by massive overcapacity that forces manufacturers to relentlessly cut costs and do more with fewer workers.
They're also facing tougher competition from around the world, including heavily subsidized factories in Europe and low-wage havens from China to Mexico.
But we're also concerned for Intel, H-P and the other California companies, large and small, high-tech or no, that keep complaining about the anti-business climate with which they have to deal.
Problem is, no one - not even the media, let alone the politicians - seems to be listening. Instead, when a Barrett or Fiorina talks, it's like the proverbial tree falling in the forest when no one's around. |
