Whirlpool may move more production to Mexico

[TheWebHead]

Whirlpool Corp., the largest U.S. appliance maker, said on Monday that it may move production of some refrigerators currently made in Arkansas to a new plant in Mexico.

Whirlpool said it will finalize details about the location, scale and costs of the new facility in early 2005. It added the plant will make its next generation of side-by-side refrigerators for Mexico's domestic and export markets in 2005.

The Benton Harbor, Michigan, company, which makes Whirlpool, KitchenAid and other brands, also said it was nearing completion of a $100 million investment in seven U.S.-based plants.

Whirlpool said it expects the investments to strengthen its position in a market "marked by intense competitive pressures and rising costs."

more..
http://biz.yahoo.com/rc/031110/manufacturing_whirlpool_3.html

[short bus president]

1. Woohoo! Free trade!

"The market" has spoken! But who knew "the market" only spoke Spanish?

[hatrack]

2. Chimpy will visit soon-to-be-unemployed Arkansas workers

He'll talk about the exciting opportunities for education and vocational retraining, so that when the newly retrained workers' jobs are shipped overseas, they'll be ready for another presidential visit.

Rumor has it that he'll talk about the exciting opportunities in education and vocational retraining on his 2nd visit.

[realFedUp]

3. there will be a backlash of people who will just buy

Made in America products.

[Nay]

4. Except there won't BE any "made in America" products.

That's the whole point. I have an incredibly hard time finding any decent made in America clothes. I finally found a Canadian co. for washable suits for work, but it was a chore.

The whole idea is to drive all production offshore so we HAVE no choice.

[mike1963]

5. The thing is, practically nothing is really "manufactured" in any one

any one country any more. The "Made in -" label nowadays goes onto the box where the finally assembled product is placed. It would be impossible to make most products without the efforts of multiple nations; this has been true since the industrial revolution. The shiny parts of our cars couldn't be made without chromium from Africa or a few other places, plastics depend on (largely) foreign petroleum, and so on.

It has become (and will always have to be) a global economy, the challenge is to create a level field. That is what is good for workers, but consumers (of which many, obviously, are workers too) want to pay the lowest possible price for the stuff they want. That (and shareholder interest) is what drives the economy and where its power goes. The singular essence of capitalism is based on the need or desire for profit, whether it's in the form of a corporate bottom line or an electrician's checkbook.

Just some musings.
This is a cool place. :)