would close down its plant in Fort Smith, Arkansas

If manufacturing can't compete on wages in the Ozarks then where can it? Indian reservations?

As taxes and regulation approach zero, job creation will approach infinity.
Every job creator understands this.

I tried to get a job at Whirlpool one summer, but then it fell through. So I was stuck reading electric meters in Benton Harbor, MI. Scariest job of all time.

If we could only lower the top marginal tax rate and eliminate capital gains and estate taxes, none of this would happen.

/Feel terrible for those workers. Best of luck to them.

All the "job-creator" and 99% vs 1% mudslinging aside, I expected this to happen. Whirlpool had factories for side-by-side refrigerators in both Fort Smith, AR and in Mexico. Raw materials (steel and petroleum-based plastics) have risen in cost the last several years due to higher demand in developing countries, and US demand for new appliances remains relatively weak due to fewer new home sales and remodels, which are a major demand driver for new appliances (second behind replacing appliances that have broken down). It's sad, but there is a logical, non-evil business case for this move.

/ex-Whirlpool employee.
//knows the appliance game quite well.
///friends with several workers who were laid off when the local call center shut down a couple years after I left.
////sorry for bringing facts to Fark when I should damn well know better.

Whirlpool is hurting because of the recession, and it isn't having much success in China. On top of that they'll have to compete with Chinese brands like Haier are moving into the U.S. market.

svenge: All the "job-creator" and 99% vs 1% mudslinging aside, I expected this to happen. Whirlpool had factories for side-by-side refrigerators in both Fort Smith, AR and in Mexico. Raw materials (steel and petroleum-based plastics) have risen in cost the last several years due to higher demand in developing countries, and US demand for new appliances remains relatively weak due to fewer new home sales and remodels, which are a major demand driver for new appliances (second behind replacing appliances that have broken down). It's sad, but there is a logical, non-evil business case for this move.

/ex-Whirlpool employee.
//knows the appliance game quite well.
///friends with several workers who were laid off when the local call center shut down a couple years after I left.
////sorry for bringing facts to Fark when I should damn well know better.

No, facts are good. They indicate that if the lower and middle class had money to renovate their kitchens and buy new appliances, Whirlpool might have sold more refrigerators.

Hollie Maea: I tried to get a job at Whirlpool one summer, but then it fell through. So I was stuck reading electric meters in Benton Harbor, MI. Scariest job of all time.

The problem is, most of Whirlpool's jobs now require you to move to either Mexico or Ohio.

/I'm there anyway, so...

R.A.Danny: "Given the weakening global economic environment"

Yeah, tried to slip that BS past us right after the DJIA jumps 360 in a a day.

Yes, because the Dow is and always has been a reliable economic indicator.

A reliable source I have told me today that the Ft. Smith, Arkansas plant just was not competitive due to union rules.

My source also told me they are looking at bringing work back from Mexico due to the productivity at their other non-union US plants is so superior that the costs in Mexico are actually higher all things considered.

grob: A reliable source I have told me today that the Ft. Smith, Arkansas plant just was not competitive due to union rules.

My source also told me they are looking at bringing work back from Mexico due to the productivity at their other non-union US plants is so superior that the costs in Mexico are actually higher all things considered.

HAHAHA UNIONS?

IN ARKANSAS?

You realize Unions are farking outlawed in Arkansas right?

R.A.Danny: IlGreven: R.A.Danny: "Given the weakening global economic environment"

Yeah, tried to slip that BS past us right after the DJIA jumps 360 in a a day.

Yes, because the Dow is and always has been a reliable economic indicator.

How about 5 straight weeks of growth for the Dow, Nasdaq, and S&P, the economy as a whole growing 2.7% over the summer, and multiple other indicators? Read a little.

...Wall Street tells us jack shiat about how the economy is really doing. That's what all those little crowds that have popped up across the country are trying to say.

grob: A reliable source I have told me today that the Ft. Smith, Arkansas plant just was not competitive due to union rules.

...if the Findlay plant is indicative of Whirlpool's position, then the only reason that Fort Smith was unionized was because Whirlpool inherited the union when they bought the plant.

IlGreven: The problem is, most of Whirlpool's jobs now require you to move to either Mexico or Ohio.

At least Mexico is safer than Benton Harbor.