Ford to Build Small Car Factory in Mexico, Adding 2,800 Jobs

Yet Americans buy imported cars, yes? Wouldn't the USA be one of Toyota's largest markets?

 

Yes, they don't seem to mind that Toyota builds a lot of their cars in the US. People who kvetch about Ford building cars in Mexico, should insist on Toyotas being built in Japan.

 

No, we shouldn't, unless you think you can get American workers on assembly lines for around $4.00 - $6.00 per hour - can you do that? Of course not, so your question is rather stupid and adds nothing to the discussion. What we should be doing is not caving into multi-national corporations and their enablers and letting them set the agenda for so-called "free trade" deals. We need trade deals that are fair and adjusted for market realities in the markets considered for trade agreements.

 

Please don't misunderstand me, I don't like it one bit. I was just addressing the corporate tax situation and mentioning how little this tax rate is a factor when compared to the cost of labor and other considerations such as tariffs etc. Executive level compensation is obscene when compared to 30 years ago and the enablers of this are people who should really know better - I get this.

Free trade agreements need to be overhauled and turned into fair trade agreements. For example, a US trade agreement with Canada is one thing and reasonably equitable for both sides due to the relative closeness in economic data of the two nations (per capita basis). Both nations have a serious competitive disadvantage with Mexico though, which is why NAFTA is so unpopular with the middle and working classes, and rightfully so. NAFTA is hugely popular with the 1% and the corporations though - for obvious reasons. The TPP will be even worse than FAFTA......

 

I don't mean to get you mad, but are you suuuuuuure it's just right wingers waging war on the working class? Don't hurt me ...

Probably is. But they build them here in the U.S. So does Hyundai and Honda. Dammit, if they can do it, frickin' Ford can do it.

No, no, no. I want them all built here. Fords, Toyotas, Hondas, all of them.

I agree with both of your comments. Low taxes on manufacturers is not the answer all by itself; it is only part of the answer. But it is one of the easiest to make happen compared to amending trade treaties or trying to reduce the cost of labor. Congress could pass a bill tomorrow, and the president could sign it into law the next day, eliminating corporate taxes on manufacturers. This wouldn't effect banks; it wouldn't effect distributors; it wouldn't effect transport companies; it wouldn't effect retailers - just manufacturers and at least give them the start of a reason to stay home or move here.

 

Mexico has a real nice setup going here....we send them our factory jobs and they send us their drugs & criminals. Its a win-win situation for them.

 

Question on your math.
Did your research explicitly state a car was built by one worker in a twenty hour period?

 

No, it didn't. It said it took that many hours from start to finish. And I didn't factor in that, at times, there may be more than one worker on the line working on it at the same time. Fair point, Killer.

 

Last time I checked, $58 an hour isn't the minimum wage, so your question is irrelevant to the discussion.

 

Let's try and look at the bright side - if enough American companies open plants in Mexico maybe the undocumented immigrants will go back?

 

Economically it makes perfect sense.
All of you posters are making assumptions that these cars will be imported from Mexico to the US.
Mexico and all countries to the south also buy Ford cars, so if Trump wins and does impose some sort of sanctions to car imports, and possible exports to Mexico, Ford has already factored that in.
It also means that Ford can cut the US production of cars it used to export from the US, and make more of them in Mexico.
They may even export them to Europe where the ford Focus is their best selling car, or even China where last year sales of the Focus increased by 50%.

http://www.nbcnews.com/business/autos/ford-focus-takes-honors-again-worlds-top-selling-car-n75511

It's a win win for Ford, not so good for the US and possibly European auto worker though.

 

Yep, missed the point entirely, didn't you?

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My question is very relevant. The wage disparity between the U.S. and Mexico is one of the main reasons company's send manufacturing to Mexico.

 

No, the issue of the exorbitant $58/hr union wages is different from the issue of minimum wages. The minimum wage never enters into the equation (Ford is paying the Mexicans $8/hr, which is above the American min wage anyway).

 

actually it isnt socialism, and to think you had the entire internet to look the word up.

 

So many better things to look at on the internet.

 

so being ignorant is ok? all righty then.

 

Most ludicrous idea I have ever heard someone seriously post. You must have a relative in the UAW or something.

 

Why? It would be a part of inducing manufacturers to stay or move to the U.S. No, I don't even know anyone in the UAW, and I would extend that offer to lots of manufacturers, not just Ford.

 

What makes you think we need manufacturing more than any other sector of the economy? What kind of neo-mercantilist bull(*)(*)(*)(*) is this?

 

Because people making more money than half the households in the country should not get to pay no taxes just because they work for Ford. Let Ford move. Let Ford go bankrupt. I don't care which but rewarding one company's employees with no taxes serves zero public purpose. It also has likely no meaningful effect on the Company's decision on whether or not to build in Mexico.

 

It seems that you're advocating what economists call dispersed costs and concentrated benefits. You want everyone to pay more so a few unskilled workers can make middle class wages. It's as crazy as advocating a $15.00/h minimum wage for fast food workers.

 

I take it that you've never had to look at the entire supply chain and associated costs. Do you honestly believe that the only labor cost to ASSEMBLE a vehicle is the time that it takes to go down the assembly line where susbsections (previously assembled) are put together to finish the complete product.

Are there costs associated with handling materials, purchasing components and warehousing etc?

and by the way, there is no net sum gain to the consumer or worker by instituting tariffs. The govt just gets some tax revenue but employees lose their job and all of the taxes that coincide with an wage earner.

The ISSUE is value of labor and for assembling vehicles, we pay TOO MUCH for that labor when you consider the skills that are really needed to perform the task.

Manufacturing has been simplified and quality improved thanks to technology. EPA and govt regulations have also driven up the costs. That is the reality however instead of adjusting the wages to match the requirements, and govt backing off, companies have simply relocated their plants to places that allow them to compete.

The problem is twofold, govt creating punitive regulations and the political/media environment who don't have the courage to tell people that putting tires onto a vehicle on a production line isn't worth $45 per hour

 

Remember, they would be paying taxes on income above 70k. That's a lot more taxes than 0 when there's no job to work. They would also be buying homes and paying property taxes that support schools, roads, emergency services, etc. They would not be on the welfare rolls.

 

Because not everybody can be a software designer, physician, or some other highly technical job. Our country needs companies where people with low-medium skills can go to work and make a living. Our middle class is shrinking. We need to stop that. We don't need more minimum wage jobs or a higher minimum wage. We need more medium-wage opportunity. Hundreds of thousands of those jobs that we used to have have moved overseas in the past 15 years, and you wonder why the dependent underclass is growing and wealth is being concentrated at that top. The answer is that the middle class is shrinking.

 

question: in your opinion, who should determine the value of labor or a product?