"Ford Creates Jobs in the Heartland" Wednesday, August 2, 2000
Excellent news! Just when you think every last manufacturing job in America is being shipped off to Asia, Latin America, or other foreign shores, here's a headline in Business Week magazine announcing that Ford
Motor Company is planning a new factory "to make family sedans in the heartland."
Hallelujah and God bless America!
Oh . . . uh, wait a second . . . it's China's heartland that the article's talking about. Instead of Iowa, Illinois, or Indiana, the U.S.
auto company is cutting a deal with Chinese rulers to make cars in the central province of Sichuan. Business Week notes that this is a "major victory" for Ford, since it has lagged behind its rival General Motors in moving its manufacturing to China. GM's been busy making Buicks in Shanghai, while Ford has "been limited to making parts and light trucks"
there. It's good to know that balance is being restored, huh? Unless, of
course, you're an American auto worker who might've liked to see the investment made here. The magazine says Ford will invest "several hundred million dollars" in its Chinese plant.
Guess who helped broker this deal? Jim Sasser, the former U.S. Senator and our former ambassador to China. As ambassador for the last several years, Ol' Jim made lots of buddies among the officialdom over there, and now that he's moved outside government service, he's peddling his influence with those same officials. Business Week reports that Sasser is "Ford's new senior consultant," and that he recently traveled to Sichuan with the corporate vice chairman of Ford to make introductions and seal the deal with the Chinese.
Sasser's trip came days after the U.S. House of Representatives passed Wall Street's China trade bill-a bill that politicians of both parties promised would result in EXPORTS! from our factories to China.
This is Jim Hightower saying . . . They were right . . . already, Ford is exporting our investment dollars, technology, and our jobs.
Sources: "Ford finally gets to roll out cars in China" by Dexter Roberts and Alysha Webb. Business Week: July 17, 2000. -------------------------------------- -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: <../attachments/20000813/03321cb6/attachment.htm>