I just picked a number out of the air Larry. I suspect the actual average wage is a little higher. I did a quick search on the Mercedes plant in Alabama and see that they have expanded twice, have more than 2,800 full time employees now and this past fall hired 500 temps to meet the demand. I am sure when the economy stabilizes many of them will become permanent. No one can argue with the fact that more than 3,000 people are willing to work for what the Mercedes plant pays. I do know that the Toyota plant in KY offers wages and benefits that are comparable to what Ford pays in Louisville.
I am tired of talking about new cars, let's talk about old cars!!!!! We have a couple of decent indoor shows coming up in January in the area. www.NashvilleAutofest.com and www.BluegrassAutoExpo.com Check them out. Both are two day shows with tons of vendors and a lot of nice cars on display. Hope to see you there. Alex LaRue LaRue Insurance, Inc. (800)303-3518 Fax (866)591-7318 P O Box 119 54 Lincoln Square Hodgenville, KY 42748 ACES 4711 www.LaRueInsurance.net www.LaRueClassics.com From: chevelle-list-boun...@chevelles.net [mailto:chevelle-list-boun...@chevelles.net] On Behalf Of Larry Williams Sent: Tuesday, December 14, 2010 7:06 PM To: chevelle-list@chevelles.net Subject: Re: [Chevelle-list] New Ford Plant $600. a week is subsistence wages for a family. If it wasn't for the unions we would all be making minimum wage in the manufacturing economy. What was it like before the unions came along? Just look at China and India today. Larry On 12/14/2010 3:17 PM, Alex LaRue wrote: I can't speak for the other states, however, I can speak for KY and the Toyota plant. We all thought it was very expensive at first. Since it landed in KY, there have been hundreds of suppliers either move here or start here. We have a multitude of suppliers with Japanese names, such as Akebono, (brakes), ASI Glass, Sumitomo, Toyotomo, Konsei, and then there are the suppliers with American names, like Trim Masters, Tower Automotive, Teledyne Forge, Trace Die Cast, Dana, and those are just the ones I can name within 30 miles of my office. The closer you get to Lexington and Louisville the larger the numbers get. Don't forget about the restaurants, gas stations, grocery stores, banks, and so forth that always happen as a direct result of large developments. For every new job at that auto plant there are probably 20 other new jobs as a result. That is why Alabama can do what it did to get the Mercedes plant, (see the math below). That is what you call a dynamic and growing economy. It dosen't matter where the money comes from we need the private sector development to get the economy moving again. Average wage $15 per hour/40 hours per week/52 weeks per year = $31,200 x 1,500 jobs = $46,800,000 in wages alone. Money turns over an average of 7 times before it leaves the area = $327 million dollar boost to the economy every year that was not there before. This doesn't count the increase in property values and taxes, profits and income taxes, sales and sales taxes, value of benefits, etc. All these numbers are estimates however they illustrate the effect of economic development. Your state's economic development department can give you the correct numbers for your area. Just plug them in and be amazed. The article below does not lie, it just doesn't tell the whole story. As for the cost advantages, check out the deal Ford got for its Louisville plant to convert it from SUVs to small cars. Alex LaRue LaRue Insurance, Inc. (800)303-3518 Fax (866)591-7318 P O Box 119 54 Lincoln Square Hodgenville, KY 42748 ACES 4711 www.LaRueInsurance.net www.LaRueClassics.com From: chevelle-list-boun...@chevelles.net [mailto:chevelle-list-boun...@chevelles.net] On Behalf Of Malibu Sent: Tuesday, December 14, 2010 4:50 PM To: The Chevelle Mailing List Subject: Re: [Chevelle-list] New Ford Plant Do You Know Where Your Car is Made? Listed below are 75 American-made automobiles. Each vehicle listed is built with union labor. But regardless of how you may feel about the labor movement in general, the fact remains that foreign automakers producing in the U.S. predominantly assemble their automobiles in low-wage states like Alabama and Kentucky, where American-owned automakers (Ford and General Motors) predominantly produce in high-wage union states like Michigan. This author has nothing against any state in our great country. We are all part of America and deserve jobs just like anyone else. The point I am trying to make is that this is one of many relatively unknown facts that give foreign-owned automakers huge cost advantages over American-owned automakers. Consider the following: In 1997, the state of Alabama granted huge subsidies to Mercedes in exchange for a plant that would employ 1,500 people. What were the details of this huge incentive package? $300 million in tax breaks, $253 million in direct incentives, $60 million in Alabama taxpayer money to send fellow Alabamans to Germany for training, and a promise to buy 2,500 of the new Mercedes SUV's at $30,000 each. Based on just the initial $300 million grant alone, those 1,500 jobs will cost Alabama taxpayers $200,000 per job. Apparently Alabama, not Mercedes, will be paying those salaries for years to come. With deals like these, it's no wonder foreign automakers have stepped up production in the U.S. We'll even pay their workers' salaries for them! In 1987, Toyota constructed an auto plant on part of the 1,500 acres of free land given to them in Georgetown, Kentucky. The auto plant was built by a Japanese steel company using Japanese steel. The U.S. government granted a "special trade zone" so that Toyota could import auto parts from Japan duty-free. Financing was handled by Mitsui Bank of Japan. Total federal and state grants and incentives exceeded $100 million. These subsidies, of course, were courtesy of your tax dollars. Tennessee gave Nissan $11,000 per job for their Smyrna plant built in 1980. South Carolina coughed up $79,000 per job to convince Germany's BMW to build their plant in Spartanburg in 1992. Were you aware that our government was using your money to create jobs? Or are these merely job announcements where you and I foot the bill? Job announcements do make for great rhetoric for state governors' re-election campaigns. How many years will it take a factory worker in Alabama to pay back the $200,000+ in tax money that the government gave away? A conservative answer would be "several." This is not to say that American companies are not granted incentives to build plants here. The most recent is $100 million in incentives for Cadillac to build their next plant in Michigan. It is my opinion that we should not be imitating the Third World by using public money to bid for jobs. But when given the choice between foreign investment (Toyota, Mercedes, Nissan) and American investment (General Motors and Ford), American investment is much better for America. The deal Alabama gave Mercedes makes the deal Michigan gave GM seem rather frugal. The point here is that these huge incentives that are offered to foreign companies are rarely offered to our own companies here at home. Such incentives allow foreign companies to save hundreds or even thousands of dollars in costs per automobile. And American companies acquire more of their parts from domestic sources, so more jobs are created in the automotive parts industry in America. America needs more American investment, not more foreign investment. Click this link and see how fair the Fair Trade Agreement is. http://overthehillcarpeople.com/why_we_should_buy_vehicles_from.htm On 12/13/2010 10:15 PM, Bill Lessenberry wrote: BMW's are made in Spartanburg, SC Nissan trucks in Canton, Mississippi VW's are built in Chattanooga, TN Honda's are built in Ohio, Alabama, and Indiana It's a global economy. GM and Ford have plants all over the world, too. BillL At 07:19 PM 12/13/2010, you wrote: Toyota's are built in Georgetown Ky Nissan's are built in Smyrna Tn
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