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(CBS News)   In 2010, President Obama and Vice President Biden broke ground at two Michigan plants. The plants were getting a combined $300 million in stimulus money to build electric car batteries. Korean workers got most of the jobs   (cbsnews.com) divider line 109
    More: Asinine, Joe Biden, President Obama, Korean, Michigan, electric vehicle battery, foreign worker, Sharyl Attkisson, groundbreakings  
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2856 clicks; posted to Politics » on 15 Apr 2012 at 3:22 PM   |  Favorite    |   share:  Share on Twitter share via Email Share on Facebook   more»



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2012-04-15 04:28:06 PM
UCFRoadWarrior: I was thinking more "useless idiot" on that one

haha! I couldn't have put it better myself!! I'm putting you on my favorites list!
 
2012-04-15 04:28:11 PM
Angry Hatter: So a company is hiring a number of foreign workers to work in American factories.

I'm failing to see how that is Obama's fault.


This.

The money went towards building new plants. A company bought the plants and can do whatever it wants and hire whoever it wants. Yes, the money was also spent so that hopefully the companies would hire americans in good faith but companies rarely work like that. Either way, not the governments fault or problem that they brought in Korean workers.

If the government goes on and gives these companies more stimulus funds then I would be angry.
 
2012-04-15 04:30:02 PM
UCFRoadWarrior: Troll..Commie Troll

Oh FFS, not another RWer so punch drunk on red scare rhetoric that he's swinging at ghosts.

Boo!
 
2012-04-15 04:30:08 PM
I don't know. I see it as companies going through all the hassle to get workers from the opposite side of the earth to work in factory instead of YOU. Not to mention if they are using legitimate US visa, the said workers are guaranteed at least the average wage of US workers. Perhaps, it's as the company said, they need the Korean workers for something specific or may be they think bang for the buck, local workers aren't just as good..
 
2012-04-15 04:33:08 PM
Masso: Perhaps, it's as the company said, they need the Korean workers for something specific or may be they think bang for the buck, local workers aren't just as good..

The biggest irony is the fact that one of the biggest issues employers have in the US is finding enough SKILLED workers qualified to do the jobs that are available.

Guess that's what happens when you make education your whipping boy when its time to cut budgets I suppose.
 
2012-04-15 04:35:57 PM
tenpoundsofcheese: Why is anyone surprised by this?

It is just how the 0bama administration pays people back.


"Obama" spelled with a zero.

DRINK!
 
2012-04-15 04:39:09 PM
Angry Hatter: So a company is hiring a number of foreign workers to work in American factories.

I'm failing to see how that is Obama's fault.


It's because Obama demanded that those foreign workers be hired. We should vote Republican to put an end to this.
 
2012-04-15 04:53:48 PM
Lando Lincoln: Angry Hatter: So a company is hiring a number of foreign workers to work in American factories.

I'm failing to see how that is Obama's fault.

It's because Obama demanded that those foreign workers be hired. We should vote Republican to put an end to this.


Well if you keep demonizing American corporations and picking winners based on favorable union contracts, don't be surprised if a lot of skilled labor migrates overseas.

There really is some value to what a company actually DOES, not just the opinion that labor leaders, who generally don't know the business, have of their management.

LG is a good Korean company that manufactures lots of products that Americans can't make anymore, largely because our private sector is not getting enough technically qualified people at affordable salaries to manage both the technical and workforce challenges inherent to these industries. That's not LG's fault, it's our government and society's fault.

If you praise foreign companies that build factories as long as they promise a few jobs, while promoting policies and wasteful spending of tax dollars, guaranteed to gut domestic industry, in a society that doesn't value technical achievment anymore, you are doing very little good other than collecting some extra tax revenue from foreign firms.
 
2012-04-15 04:55:11 PM
Not one post yet about the straight-friggin-line between squeezing education in the US, and the need to import foreign workers to do complex jobs?

See, first you cut your tax rates to the bone...preferably on the wealthiest, cause then it has the most impact.

Throw in a couple unfunded wars, you know, for the 'frisson.'

Then, you complain about high spending and deficits, so on top of all the other cuts to education over the past decades, you blame failing schools on the teachers, and start to turn the screws.

In the meantime, the remains of the education system pump out people who can't comprehend how to insert tab A into slot B.
 
2012-04-15 04:56:32 PM
Not for nothing, but it's different if the imports are here temporarily, and will train Americans to do the work on an ongoing basis.

Plus, it's not like these guys need lodging, food, etc. while they're here right? Do you have any idea how much money people travelling on business spend?

Having workers come over for a while will probably net the US economy a tidy profit.
 
2012-04-15 04:57:10 PM
Nabb1: NewportBarGuy: jim32rr: Simple kind of man, huh.

Maybe these companies know what they are doing and the unions have found themselves on the short end of the stick for reasons independent of politics, i.e. a business decision. Which, IMO, is a good thing. I'd rather companies make sound business decisions with stimulus funds than politically expedient ones.


But I think the gripe people have (if the allegations are true) is that stimulus funds are primarily intended to stimulate the U.S economy. Granted, it's inevitable that some stimulus money will eventually bleed it's way into other countries. But I can see why people would be upset if indeed hundreds of millions of dollars went directly to South Korea.
 
2012-04-15 05:01:40 PM
Masso: I don't know. I see it as companies going through all the hassle to get workers from the opposite side of the earth to work in factory instead of YOU. Not to mention if they are using legitimate US visa, the said workers are guaranteed at least the average wage of US workers. Perhaps, it's as the company said, they need the Korean workers for something specific or may be they think bang for the buck, local workers aren't just as good..

Foreign workers are never hired to work for the same wages as Americans. Never

If you paid the foreigners the same as Americans...companies could not afford them due to visa, permits, taxes, etc. Foreigners are only hired because they work cheap...not for quality, experience.
 
2012-04-15 05:01:46 PM
ActionJoe: Angry Hatter: So a company is hiring a number of foreign workers to work in American factories.

I'm failing to see how that is Obama's fault.

This.

The money went towards building new plants. A company bought the plants and can do whatever it wants and hire whoever it wants. Yes, the money was also spent so that hopefully the companies would hire americans in good faith but companies rarely work like that. Either way, not the governments fault or problem that they brought in Korean workers.

If the government goes on and gives these companies more stimulus funds then I would be angry.


Don't be a moran. The PLANTS WERE BUILT BY THE COMPANIES. They used both U.S. and foreign labor then brought in skilled foreign laborers to run the equipment. Same thing U.S. firms have done elsewhere.

What Obama wanted was a photo op for jobs and green energy. he didn't really care what happened next.

If you want companies to hire American, work toward that goal by creating an educational system that respects the private sector and a system of laws that recognizes what the private sector brings to the table.

Obama fell for Solyndra because he is COMPLIETELY IGNORANT of how the private sector works. COMPLETELY.
 
2012-04-15 05:03:41 PM
The article says "SOME" of the jobs were filled by Koreans. Not "most".
 
2012-04-15 05:05:38 PM
UCFRoadWarrior: WhoIsNotInMyKitchen: UCFRoadWarrior: Mentat: r1niceboy:

Dude...that is government money...that is not capitalism. That is Socialism
.


Um... I'm pretty sure that Government Expenditure ≠ Socialism. How did the Romans ever manage to build roads hundreds and hundreds of years before anyone ever heard of Socialism?
 
2012-04-15 05:08:45 PM
ActionJoe: Angry Hatter: So a company is hiring a number of foreign workers to work in American factories.

The money went towards building new plants. A company bought the plants and can do whatever it wants and hire whoever it wants. Yes, the money was also spent so that hopefully the companies would hire americans in good faith but companies rarely work like that. Either way, not the governments fault or problem that they brought in Korean workers.

If the government goes on and gives these companies more stimulus funds then I would be angry.


Agreed. But if the stimulus funds are well designed, they'll cycle through the U.S economy a good deal before a large part moves over seas.
 
2012-04-15 05:14:46 PM
Wow, sure are a lot of racist liberal union supporters who hate Asians in this thread.
 
2012-04-15 05:14:49 PM
Mrtraveler01: Masso: Perhaps, it's as the company said, they need the Korean workers for something specific or may be they think bang for the buck, local workers aren't just as good..

The biggest irony is the fact that one of the biggest issues employers have in the US is finding enough SKILLED workers qualified to do the jobs that are available.

Guess that's what happens when you make education your whipping boy when its time to cut budgets I suppose.


The problem with the "we need skilled labor" issue is that the vast majority of the jobs shipped out of the country are non-skilled jobs....things that we can make in the USA

In fact, years ago, corporations never had a problem finding skilled labor....they trained them themselves. The problems came when corporations started relying on the government (taxpayer funded schools) to provide the education

Also, the unions provided a lot of skilled training, which now has to be done by your government funded schools

In all...the corporations are to blame for lack of skilled workers. Instead of taking the capitalist approach and putting the resources to training....they decided that the government (Socialism) do all the skilled training...pushing the cost on taxpayers

Imagine in the 1950s, the automakers found their top people through their basic entry level jobs...and trained them from there. The top factory workers, managers, and executives started from the bottom, and trained by the auto companies. Their problems started when they went away from this
 
2012-04-15 05:18:40 PM
glaurunge: UCFRoadWarrior: WhoIsNotInMyKitchen: UCFRoadWarrior: Mentat: r1niceboy:

Dude...that is government money...that is not capitalism. That is Socialism
.

Um... I'm pretty sure that Government Expenditure ≠ Socialism. How did the Romans ever manage to build roads hundreds and hundreds of years before anyone ever heard of Socialism?


The problem is that you do not want to call your government check "Socialism"...but the other guys...well that is "Socialist"

If you give government money to a welfare queen, or a multi-national corporation....it is still Socialism
 
2012-04-15 05:24:58 PM
beta_plus: Wow, sure are a lot of racist liberal union supporters who hate Asians in this thread.

Name one.
 
2012-04-15 05:29:58 PM
UCFRoadWarrior: In all...the corporations are to blame for lack of skilled workers. Instead of taking the capitalist approach and putting the resources to training....they decided that the government (Socialism) do all the skilled training...pushing the cost on taxpayers

==

After the Revolution, an emphasis was put on education, especially in the northern states, which rapidly established public schools. By the year 1870, all states had free elementary schools. The US population had one of the highest literacy rates at the time. Private academies flourished in the towns across the country, but rural areas (where most people lived) had few schools before the 1880s.

In 1821, Boston started the first public high school in the United States. By the close of the 19th century, public secondary schools began to outnumber private ones.


If your goal is just to get a reaction, I guess you're succeeding. Otherwise, you just aren't very good at this.
 
2012-04-15 05:34:55 PM
I remember way back when the recession started in 2009, fartbongo was working on his spendulus-porkulus bill and the GOP said, "Should we make sure this money can only be spent on American goods?" And B. Hussein Soetero was like, "No, that's protectionism." And most of the money went to Chinese goods and most of the jobs went to China. Now look where we are.
 
2012-04-15 05:52:04 PM
UCFRoadWarrior: Free Trade Communism

Now you're just making shiat up.

UCFRoadWarrior: You are the derp

NO! YOU ARE THE ONE WHO IS THE BALL LICKER!
 
2012-04-15 05:53:00 PM
LiberalWeenie: I remember way back when the recession started in 2009, fartbongo was working on his spendulus-porkulus bill and the GOP said, "Should we make sure this money can only be spent on American goods?" And B. Hussein Soetero was like, "No, that's protectionism." And most of the money went to Chinese goods and most of the jobs went to China. Now look where we are.

8/10

It's actually not hard to imagine most Teabaggers believing the recession started under Obama.
 
2012-04-15 06:01:28 PM
Stop feeding the Mad Max wannabe troll, people.
 
2012-04-15 06:08:14 PM
FormlessOne: In other news, CBS is swinging for the GOP fences on that piece of shiat article.

damned liberal media and their trickery!
 
2012-04-15 06:08:29 PM
Masso: I don't know. I see it as companies going through all the hassle to get workers from the opposite side of the earth to work in factory instead of YOU. Not to mention if they are using legitimate US visa, the said workers are guaranteed at least the average wage of US workers. Perhaps, it's as the company said, they need the Korean workers for something specific or may be they think bang for the buck, local workers aren't just as good..

Bullshiat.

When someone states special expertise and uses it to justify foreigners over US citizens, it's fraud. Whether it's Michigan, Montana, Mississippi, or elsewhere in the US, employers hate US citizens for their freedom.

Dow Kokam & LG Chemical need to be walked out a long ways off a short pier without any opportunity to scuttle. Perhaps some of those not-so-good laws such as the NDAA and friends could be put to some good use to that end. Then have their function replaced by a more US-friendly company.
 
2012-04-15 06:09:26 PM
glaurunge: Agreed. But if the stimulus funds are well designed, they'll cycle through the U.S economy a good deal before a large part moves over seas.

How about halting the overseas departure by making it too painful to try?
 
2012-04-15 06:14:52 PM
KWess: Not for nothing, but it's different if the imports are here temporarily, and will train Americans to do the work on an ongoing basis.

That's been proven to be a lie with every single guest worker program. They will not train US citizens save for a few friends that happen to have the burden of US citizenship.

The fraud is so bad that the only way to end it is to end all the guest worker programs that bring nothing more than indentured servants to flood the market and devalue legitimate workers.


Plus, it's not like these guys need lodging, food, etc. while they're here right? Do you have any idea how much money people travelling on business spend?

Having workers come over for a while will probably net the US economy a tidy profit.

It's blood money - the kind that causes more trouble than the amount brought in under more legitimate and pro-citizen measures.
 
2012-04-15 06:19:11 PM
Masso: I don't know. I see it as companies going through all the hassle to get workers from the opposite side of the earth to work in factory instead of YOU. Not to mention if they are using legitimate US visa, the said workers are guaranteed at least the average wage of US workers.

It's not legitimate if they're basing it off of fraud. At the very least, they are dishonest.




Perhaps, it's as the company said, they need the Korean workers for something specific or may be they think bang for the buck, local workers aren't just as good..

So how much did you pay them for the Brooklyn Bridge? The only thing the local workers don't do well at is being pliable and unquestioning of being de facto slaves.

Businesses hate freedom.
 
2012-04-15 06:22:00 PM
ActionJoe: The money went towards building new plants. A company bought the plants and can do whatever it wants and hire whoever it wants.
As long as they go by the law, which did not happen here.



Yes, the money was also spent so that hopefully the companies would hire americans in good faith but companies rarely work like that. Either way, not the governments fault or problem that they brought in Korean workers.

The problem was that they brought the Korean workers under false pretenses. Play hardball with these kind of companies until they stop doing this kind of stuff and learn about good faith towards US citizens and not the ones they brought for fraud.
 
2012-04-15 06:26:53 PM
glaurunge: UCFRoadWarrior: WhoIsNotInMyKitchen: UCFRoadWarrior: Mentat: r1niceboy:

Dude...that is government money...that is not capitalism. That is Socialism
.

Um... I'm pretty sure that Government Expenditure ≠ Socialism. How did the Romans ever manage to build roads hundreds and hundreds of years before anyone ever heard of Socialism?


They used their defense budget.
 
2012-04-15 06:51:25 PM
Yea, when our companies go to their countries we hire indigenous people.
 
2012-04-15 07:01:01 PM
UCFRoadWarrior: ChaffedTitty: I see the truth now, that NAFTA is also Obama's fault.

I was so blind!

Free Trade and NAFTA is a classical liberal idea supported not only by the GOP, but also by the Democrats.....Bill Clinton signed the agreement....his wife Hillary pushed it and is now the Sec of State....and even AL GORE cheerleaded for the thing on TV. So, continuing NAFTA is Obama's fault

NAFTA is a bad piece of legislation and does nothing but redistribute wealth out of America. It also places restrictions on the trade of certain items (so much for FREE TRADE)...like forcing Canada to sell 2/3 of its oil to the US

NAFTA and Free Trade does not work. Period


Yes, the Freedom and Patriotic Republicans, who rely on such things as ALEC, would most definitely repeal NAFTA ASAP and if Obama wanted to do it, the GOP would not only go along with the idea but even give him a goddamn reach around.

Both parties are bad, blah, blah, blah...right?
 
2012-04-15 07:06:08 PM
Nabb1: So, $300 million in stimulus and the companies don't trust the local workforce with the highly technical aspects of the work. You'd think maybe the local unions would pick up on the hint instead of crying with thinly veiled xenophobia and racism.

I mean really, it's battery manufacturing. You fill it with acid and tweak the knobs until they're tight.

/It's the Ted Bundy Mehtod.
 
2012-04-15 07:52:53 PM
So, lessee...

The factory is being built (i.e.,not even in operation yet). It's got 18 main contractors, 11 of which are Asian. Since I assume the Asian contractors didn't bring over their own equipment and people to do the actual construction, they are buying and hiring locally--like any contractor. That they are buying "Korean" only means to me that the Korean suppliers are low-bidding the supplies and equipment--again, like any contractor needs. However, it has to come into America and be handled by Americans, ergo, there is money and jobs coming into America through the work.

Seven of the contractors are not "Asian" (whatever that means) and presumably are American. Are they only hiring Americans and buying American-made parts, or are they also buying the low-bid and probably Korean goods?

Any contractor hires the best people available, not the locallest people available. American companies routinely bring in American experts when WE go someplace to manufacture in their countries, despite our pious claims of wanting to bring money and democracy to developing nations. Why shouldn't the Koreans do the same? It doesn't sound like the unions are whining about anything beyond labor and installation jobs. The contractors are going to hire guys they know can get the work done on time and under budget, so maybe that says more about the locals than it does about the companies, you know?

If I need drywall hung, I'm going to get a guy who can do it today for $50, not who can do it in a week for $100, is all I'm saying.
 
2012-04-15 08:15:32 PM
Gyrfalcon: Any contractor hires the best cheapest people available

FTFY
 
2012-04-15 08:25:52 PM
Gyrfalcon:
Any contractor hires the best people available, not the locallest people available. American companies routinely bring in American experts when WE go someplace to manufacture in their countries, despite our pious claims of wanting to bring money and democracy to developing nations. Why shouldn't the Koreans do the same?

The problem is that the local people aren't even being given the chance to be considered the best. The only deficiencies in question are that the Michiganders are not Korean, not willing to excuse fraud, or willing to be slaves. In addition, when work gets sent overseas, it is usually done with the foreign population's locals - as businesses can control them more easily over there versus the free Michiganders.



It doesn't sound like the unions are whining about anything beyond labor and installation jobs. The contractors are going to hire guys they know can get the work done on time and under budget, so maybe that says more about the locals than it does about the companies, you know?


It doesn't say anything negative about the locals unless you're talking about Dow Kokam or LG Chemical's representatives.




If I need drywall hung, I'm going to get a guy who can do it today for $50, not who can do it in a week for $100, is all I'm saying.

Not a valid excuse, especially when you find out that the work has to be redone for $200+ because of some shortcut that wasn't.

You want to excuse illegal and fraudulent actions because they are cheap. You are what is wrong with this country.
 
2012-04-15 08:26:26 PM
NewportBarGuy: MaudlinMutantMollusk: Have you ever tried to assemble a complex piece of machinery that you're unfamiliar with using translated Korean instructions?

YES!

We have a pill filling machine that broke down and sat for 2 years because no one could read the Korean manual, and the service contract expired.

One day, a white guy who knew Korean came in and fixed it. He was in the IT dept.


I hope he translated the manual while he was at it so that someone else could fix it next time.
 
2012-04-15 09:05:49 PM
Mentat: Look, the economy doesn't care where the money comes from, only Republicans do. Once it's out there, it follows the same rules of capital flow no matter its source.

When the money is printed or borrowed, it does matter. In borrowing you retard future growth at the expense of present growth - made worse by the fact that the stimulus was not only a miserable failure but it has yet to be paid for as well.

When the money is printed, it devalues the rest of the money supply, destroys savings and raises prices.

So yes, it matters
 
2012-04-15 09:11:41 PM
Animatronik: Well if you keep demonizing American corporations and picking winners based on favorable union contracts, don't be surprised if a lot of skilled labor migrates overseas.

Yeah...that's exactly what's happening. Lots of people would like to work in the US, but the Unions are just...um...making companies hire people at too good of wages?
 
2012-04-15 09:43:29 PM
GM has really upped production at its Daewoo plants in Korea. Both the Sonic and the Cruze (as well as the Aveo) are built in Korea. All three of those cars have sold pretty well.
 
2012-04-15 10:11:57 PM
sethstorm: Gyrfalcon:

If I need drywall hung, I'm going to get a guy who can do it today for $50, not who can do it in a week for $100, is all I'm saying.
Not a valid excuse, especially when you find out that the work has to be redone for $200+ because of some shortcut that wasn't.

You want to excuse illegal and fraudulent actions because they are cheap. You are what is wrong with this country.


If I know that the guy I'm hiring can do it today for $50, then that's the person I hire. I don't look around and see if someone I don't know might be able to do it for more on the off chance he might somehow do a different job. There are only so many ways to hang drywall.

There is nothing illegal about hiring anyone you want to. If the Michigan laborers couldn't do the job but the Koreans had hired workers in from North Dakota, would you still be whining about it? What if the "Asian contractor" not specifically defined as being Korean is really an Indonesian firm who didn't want to work with Americans because of the shiat he takes working with bigoted Michiganders? Why would a contractor "buy American" if the cheaper, better products are made overseas?

I'm still not seeing the fraud in all this, except that the unions didn't get to pad their accounts with union dues and union wages. This is America, you can hire and fire whoever you want. Some countries have stipulations that foreign nationals must hire a certain percentage of local workers on any job site. If America doesn't have those requirements, then we should enact them; but unless or until we do, nobody can be whining about looking through the windows and seeing "foreigners doing Americans' jobs" as if we had some sacred right to them.
 
2012-04-15 10:36:33 PM
kmmontandon: 150 out of a couple of thousand?

How horrible.


I'm sure their father's had much higher expectations. . .
 
2012-04-15 10:44:23 PM
sethstorm: If I need drywall hung, I'm going to get a guy who can do it today for $50, not who can do it in a week for $100, is all I'm saying.
Not a valid excuse, especially when you find out that the work has to be redone for $200+ because of some shortcut that wasn't.

You want to excuse illegal and fraudulent actions because they are cheap. You are what is wrong with this country.


wat
 
2012-04-15 11:28:01 PM
msnbcmedia3.msn.com
 
2012-04-15 11:36:45 PM
UCFRoadWarrior: Obama just following Bush...

Congratulations on the most asinine thing ever said.
 
2012-04-15 11:48:18 PM
Retarded Colored Animal: UCFRoadWarrior: I was thinking more "useless idiot" on that one

haha! I couldn't have put it better myself!! I'm putting you on my favorites list!


He doesn't realize you were talking about him.
 
2012-04-15 11:51:25 PM
Mentat: UCFRoadWarrior: In all...the corporations are to blame for lack of skilled workers. Instead of taking the capitalist approach and putting the resources to training....they decided that the government (Socialism) do all the skilled training...pushing the cost on taxpayers

==

After the Revolution, an emphasis was put on education, especially in the northern states, which rapidly established public schools. By the year 1870, all states had free elementary schools. The US population had one of the highest literacy rates at the time. Private academies flourished in the towns across the country, but rural areas (where most people lived) had few schools before the 1880s.

In 1821, Boston started the first public high school in the United States. By the close of the 19th century, public secondary schools began to outnumber private ones.

If your goal is just to get a reaction, I guess you're succeeding. Otherwise, you just aren't very good at this.


Google "ucfroadwarrior free republic".

/He is a freeper.
 
2012-04-16 12:36:54 AM
jjorsett: I hope he translated the manual while he was at it so that someone else could fix it next time.

You'd think, right? Nope.
 
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