Ford Creating New Jobs!
Ford Motor Company has received $250 million worth of tax credits through the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004. Hey, that’s cool. When a large American corporation creates tens of thousands of new well-paying jobs, they deserve to be rewarded.
Some might say that $250 million in tax credits is an overly generous gift from America’s taxpayers, but what the hey. These new jobs — jobs that are staying here in America — are exactly what our country needs.
Some of these new jobs include — hmmm…OK, what’s going on here?!? Wait, uh, OK — Ford didn't create thousands of new jobs. Uh, they haven’t created any new jobs at all. In fact, wait, this can’t be — Ford has just ELIMINATED 10,000 jobs. And they’re planning to eliminate 30,000 MORE JOBS!!
And yet — and yet, they’ve received $250 million worth of tax credits through the American Jobs Creation Act of 2004. What the F#@$*&@!?? George Orwell couldn’t have made up anything more, uh, Orwellian than this.
An American corporation closes fourteen factories, eliminates a total of 40,000 jobs, and receives $250 million in tax credits for the jobs they’ve “created.” Whew!! Semantics professors are gonna be wrestling with this one for decades.
Newsweek’s Alan Sloane says “Congress should thank its lucky stars that federal truth-in-labeling laws don’t apply to legislation. Almost every dispassionate analyst agrees that the American Jobs Creation Act didn’t create jobs in the United States.”
First we have corporations virtually dictating the laws to
Something needs to be fixed.
posted by Tom Harper @ 5:54 PM
9 Comments:
It is a shame, yet a lot of people are to ignorant to realize or notice the significance.
Ole Blue The Heretic: Yup, it's a shame most people won't give it any thought. And the "media" sure isn't giving much attention to this. That online Newsweek article was the only mention of it that I've ever seen.
It's hilarious that corporations don't want government regulation or to have to pay taxes.
But when they fail, they come to the government for a bail out and handouts.
Fucking tools.
I only read page 1 of Sloan's article, but that was enough for me. Yes, it's a bonehead law, Sloan though seems to let Ford off the hook.
He said something like Ford would be irresponsible NOT to take advantage of the poorly written legislation.
Let's get real here. I'm sure their people helped write the legislation. I'm certain Ford lobbied for it too. Even worse, it's unethical to take advantage of a benefit that you know is unethical.
So, yes we should be p.o.ed with Congress...AND Ford.
PoliShifter: Yeah, you've got it. It's free enterprise when they make a profit -- they want to keep it all. And when they fail, they want a huge socialist nanny state to bail them out and give them handouts.
Trey: You're right. There's no question that law was written by Ford and other large corporations. Congress is pretty much just a middleman (at best).
I commented on Ford this morning on my blog. I think it's sad to see them doing poorly, but now that I read Tom's post, I feel even more sad in knowing that the Jobs Creation Act looks like a sham.
A lot of the "new jobs" the Bush administration claims to be creating are minimum-wage jobs that don't include any benefits. The administration can say "more Americans have jobs" and "unemployment is down" but that's kind of like putting a too-thin coat of whitewash over sad, old cracking wallpaper. If Bush wants to talk about a "culture of life", he might want to also think about a "culture of quality of life", which would focus not just on the unborn and the dying but also on a lot of Americans who are in between those extremes... and who have crappy dead-end jobs that won't allow them to "get ahead" or participate in "the American dream".
Instead of blurring the boundaries between church and state, maybe the government ought to work on blurring the boundaries between the economic tiers in our society. A great start toward that would be keeping decent-paying (union) jobs here in America. I'd be comfortable paying a little more for what I buy if I knew it was made here in the U.S. and if I knew that the people who made the products were being paid a living wage that included medical benefits.
People who like to say "buy American" may be finding there are fewer and fewer things to buy that are actually "made in the U.S.A." But when the outcry about that is answered with the tired old "well, it would hurt our economy to keep those jobs here in the U.S., because the corporations would lose money" I just want to puke.
Can the leaders of our country stop thinking about the dollar first in every instance, and think about what's best for the American people...? Hmmm, I guess that thinking in human terms instead of monetary terms would make our government "socialist", eh.
Snave: Yeah, that "Jobs Creation Act" is a sham. According to the link, even some of the most rightwing economists were against it. "Buy American" -- hey, that's a thought. That was Wal-Mart's claim to fame when they were first getting their foot in the door. Most of their goods were American-made. What happened to that?
The government definitely lies with statistics when it come to new jobs being created. A thousand union jobs disappear and they're replaced by 1,200 jobs where you're saying "would you like fries with that," and they say "look, we've added 200 jobs."
Good point about blurring the lines between the economic tiers instead of the lines between church and state. We still have a strong middle class but it's shrinking. A few people at the top would like to turn us into one of those third world oligarchies where 1% of the population are millionaires and the other 99% are living in squalor.
I grew up in Detroit where Henry Ford was a HERO. There was Greenfield Village (Ford built), The Ford Museum, the Ford Rotunda and Ford this and Ford that. My heart is broken at how my native Motown is goin' down! All those jobs lost! My Dad worked in the factories.
$$$ 250 million for the Job Creation Act? All that money supposed to create employment for the thousands who are out of work - GONE? Jobs subtracted - not added? GEEZ!!!! This is about as bad as when I found out that HENRY FORD was a FASCIST!!
Kitchen Window Woman: Being from Detroit, that must be heartbreaking to hear about how Ford (and Chrysler/GM) have gone downhill.
And getting $250 million for "creating" jobs when they're actually in the process of eliminating 40,000 jobs -- That stands out even in Bushworld. Something has gone awry in these last 5 years.
Post a Comment
<< Home