Federal Raid on Gibson Signals U.S. Is Not Open for Business and Obama Is Not Serious About Jobs
From Saturday's WSJ article by Nancy Dewolf Smith:
On Aug. 24, federal agents descended on three factories and the Nashville corporate headquarters of the Gibson Guitar Corp. Accompanied by armored SWAT teams with automatic weapons, agents from the Fish and Wildlife Service swarmed the factories, threatening bewildered luthiers, or guitar craftsman, and other frightened employees. A smaller horde invaded the office of CEO Henry Juszkiewicz, pawing through it all day while an armed man stood in the door to block his way.
The incident attracted national attention and outrage. Like Boeing—whose plans to locate new production in South Carolina are opposed by the National Labor Relations Board—here was an iconic American brand under seemingly senseless federal fire. The fact that Gibson was singled out when other guitar makers use the same woods has fed speculation that the company was targeted—because it is not unionized, perhaps, or didn't donate enough to the Democratic Party.
"I don't think it's a political issue," Mr. Juszkiewicz says, shaking his head. "But I will say this: I wrote a letter to President Obama. I spelled out what happened. I said: You know, we got raided and here are the facts, I think it's unfair. What do you think we should do? No response."
Maybe the president is not a music lover? "He knows who we are," Mr. Juszkiewicz says. "His daughters have a couple of Gibsons. [Mrs. Obama] gave a guitar to [the French president's singer-songwriter wife] Mrs. Sarkozy. And we called up to make sure that he saw the letter, and he did. No response."
22 Comments:
I seriously doubt Obama even knows about the raid.
Obama picked anti-market, anti-business people who have no clue about the real world and lack common sense.
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The problem is that businesses are generally contemptuous of US citizens. Businesses like pliant people that don't question what they do, and hate people that can't be shut up by their own or by a business-friendly government.
Businesses would have no problem if they didn't have such natural contempt, for they would not attract government attention.
sethstorm,
Are you really claiming that Gibson attracted government attention because of their "contempt" for customers?
Are you really claiming that Gibson attracted government attention because of their "contempt" for customers?
Yes, that is what he said.
Leftists are jealous of people who produce value. That is why leftists choose careers where sucking up to authority figures and punishing non-compliant people are the norm.
Itchy:
Are you really claiming that Gibson attracted government attention because of their "contempt" for customers?
dmg:
Yes, that is what he said.
No, that is what you two interpreted. I said nothing about Gibson specifically, nor implied anything that they did. For what can be said, I'm not sure why they're targeting Gibson for the wood issue that "exists".
In general, businesses more contemptuous of employing US citizens. It is not wrong to call them out on their continued complaints about skills instead of making some effort to train for actual deficiencies. It is not wrong to call them out when said businesses use the fraud-ridden resident worker programs to avoid citizens. It is not wrong to call them out on being cowardly for going offshore and being afraid to tell about it.
"In general, businesses more contemptuous of employing US citizens"
Generic blanket statement. This post was about Gibson Guitar. It is only logical that your 1st comment would be about the post's topic.
"fraud-ridden resident worker programs to avoid citizens."
Like this?
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/05/us/farmers-strain-to-hire-american-workers-in-place-of-migrant-labor.html
The Obama Administration is contemptuous of business that make things that are not solar panels and windmills which are not made by unions.
The amendment to the Lacey Act ( originally enacted in 1900) was made in 2008 and was voted in favor of by the likes of Kohl, Barrasso, Bond, Brownback, Hatch, Graham, Cornyn, Coker and others who actually voted to override George Bush's veto of the bill.
Barrack Obama was Senator then but did not vote on the Lacey Act amendment override(which was part of a larger Ag bill).
The amendment covers imported woods (and other things) that affects all guitar-makers as well as other kinds of products that use imported woods.
As far as I know - Gibson is the only company that has made the 2008 provisions an issue though I'm sure I'll be "corrected", eh?
Most retailers like Home Depot and Lowes will only sell "certified" woods and will not deal with banned imported woods and also do not deal with 3rd party importers of such woods.
So what would be the remedy if there is agreement that the amendment was wrong (which is not at all a unanimous view)?
Well, apparently, those who support Gibson want Barrack Obama to not enforce the law - or risk being called "anti-business".
So why is Gibson standing pretty much alone on this and have the Congressional representatives from his home state submitted legislation to repeal the Lacey Act?
"The problem is that businesses are generally contemptuous of US citizens..."...
Actually the problem is that the ever clueless sethstorm is contemptous of reality...
sethstorm's breathless attempts to deny reality lead him to post inane comments like this: "Businesses like pliant people that don't question what they do, and hate people that can't be shut up by their own or by a business-friendly government"...
Yet where are the specific and credible examples of such?
sethstorm just can't stop making a complete fool of himself: "In general, businesses more contemptuous of employing US citizens"...
Somehow sethstorm tries to convince himself that people are being forced, being physically coerced to work in some sort of sweat shop situation that is the American workplace...
I think kmg nails it perfectly about leftists...
"I seriously doubt Obama even knows about the raid"...
Or anything else for that matter..
As usual juandos avoids the topic and attacks whoever is closest.
"As usual juandos avoids the topic and attacks whoever is closest"...
Per his usual style hydra whines when someone mocks his hero or another fellow socialist...
After all it was about jobs and it was hydra that reminded me of just how Obama's policies cost lost jobs and money...
Obama can destroy all the non-union jobs he wants.
Registered Democrats will still love him.
Generic blanket statement.
Had you stopped there, it would be fine. The rest is your interpretation.
juandos said...
Then why does business try to find the most despotic places in the world, then send work there? It's not really freedom if only one of the parties has it.
You want examples, look at the governments of the countries that receive the work. They're mildly despotic at best, outright hostile at worst. The Third World is chock full of examples.
My point is that US citizens are viewed as having too much freedom to choose and object by business.
"Then why does business try to find the most despotic places in the world, then send work there?"...
Wrong again sethstorm, they go where the prices are best and there is some sort of infrastructure to move their products...
"You want examples, look at the governments of the countries that receive the work. They're mildly despotic at best, outright hostile at worst"...
Well by your logic sethstorm then American businesses would be flocking to despot paradises like Equitorial Guinea or the Democratic Republic of Congo but they're not...
The problem is that businesses are generally contemptuous of US citizens. Businesses like pliant people that don't question what they do, and hate people that can't be shut up by their own or by a business-friendly government.
Really? You mean to tell me that businesses have been forcing people to work for them or to buy their products? Where exactly is the evidence for this stupid claim?
Businesses would have no problem if they didn't have such natural contempt, for they would not attract government attention.
What contempt you moron? Gibson was raided even though it violated no American laws. While the government tried to make some stupid claim about how it violated Indian laws the government of India said that was not true. It looks to me that the idiots in the Obama administration have contempt for businesses, their shareholders, customers, and employees.
Well by your logic sethstorm then American businesses would be flocking to despot paradises like Equitorial Guinea or the Democratic Republic of Congo but they're not...
Not for now.
There's already some effort by China to court African despots that are afraid of the US.
China? Only as friendly as long as you have something for them to copy off of. They really don't want people to have enough freedom to control their government.
Vietnam? A despotic aberration that should have been finished off a long time ago and rebuilt in the US's image. Same problems as China.
Mexico? One has to pay the workers enough so that they can pay the protection money for the cartels.
India? Ground zero for resident worker fraud. Never mind that larger-than-US bureaucracies exist - for those that don't have the clout of a multinational.
Wrong again sethstorm, they go where the prices are best and there is some sort of infrastructure to move their products...
Admit that it's easy to keep costs low when freedom is denied to the people that do the job.
"Admit that it's easy to keep costs low when freedom is denied to the people that do the job"...
OK sethstorm let's stick with the China situation for purposes of this particular discussin...
Has there been any credible evidence that employees of companies that are part of an American company's off shore facilities are being physically coerced into working at those plants?
juandos said...
Every single factory in China, Foxconn being a recent example of the kinds of things that go on in such factories.
Every single factory in China, Foxconn being a recent example of the kinds of things that go on in such factories.
It is? How?
I didn't know both Barrack's daughters played Gibsons. They have excellent taste in Guitars, like their mother. As for those who would demand facts. I'm sure you don't want to know. The facts will be much more embarrassing than the supposition and conjecture that we are running with.
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