Polaris to move Osceola operations to Mexico; Obey blasts decision as 'unpatriotic'

[robinblue]

Source: Pioneer Press




Polaris to move Osceola operations to Mexico; Obey blasts decision as 'unpatriotic'
Pioneer Press
Updated: 05/20/2010 07:10:16 PM CDT

Polaris Industries Inc. announced today it would close its plant in Osceola, moving much of the work to Mexico.

Based in Medina, Polaris makes snowmobiles, all-terrain vehicles and Victory motorcycles. According to a company official, it employs more than 500 people at the western Wisconsin plant.

The plant, established in 1991, makes engines and other components that supply the company's Roseau and Spirit Lake, Iowa, operations. The company plans to move many of the operations to the Monterrey area of Mexico.

Some of the work, though, will be moved to Polaris operations in Roseau, where it makes snowmobiles, and Iowa, where it makes motorcycles.

No immediate timeline was given on when the plant would be closed, but the company's realignment will begin immediately and is scheduled to be complete in 2012.
.................

The closing was blasted as "unpatriotic" by U.S. Rep. David Obey, a Democrat whose district includes Osceola. .........................

Read more: http://www.twincities.com/allheadlines/ci_15128959?nclick_check=1

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another one bites the dust.

[BrklynLiberal]

1. It would be great if Americans stopped buyng their products...wouldn't it??

[Lifelong Protester]

6. I am with you. Can't people see that saving a couple of dollars

(and buying MORE stuff)is costing us a LOT??? I would be very interested in knowing how much money per unit they save with the move to Mexico.

I am sure someone with an economics background will blast this, but why don't we slap some high tarrif on these machines coming back into the states? I know it's a hokey simplistic idea, but why aren't we doing (I'm thinking along the punitive tarrif line)something to keep these jobs here?

[HooptieWagon]

2. K&R n/t

[tqla]

3. instead of "blasting" them,

Obey should try to get them to stay somehow.

[nebenaube]

5. No, he shouldn't...

That's the moral hazard here. Let the door hit them in the ass.

[boppers]

4. "unpatriotic"? Flags and nations have nothing to do with it.

Profit is the king of businesses, not a government.

[reggie the dog]

12. it IS unpatriotic, think of henry ford

henry ford made money selling cars and he paid his workers enough to buy his cars so that he could sell even more cars. to people like ford you were in business for several reasons

1. make profit
2 creat jobs for your people
3 make your country stronger by creating jobs


capitalism can work as a system if people would only give a damn about their people and their countries.

[CBGLuthier]

14. anti-Semitic union buster

Yes, lets heed the words of Henry Ford.

[reggie the dog]

15. i know he had flaws

and i hate union busting, but he also had an idea that he should keep jobs in the usa hmmm perhaps he was pushed into doing that by high tarrif laws????

[Mechatanketra]

19. A pointless complaint

capitalism can work as a system if people would only give a damn about their people and their countries.

Communism can(/would have) work(ed) as a system if people would only give a damn about their people and their countries.
Feudalism can(/would have) work(ed) as a system if people would only give a damn about their people and their countries.
Libertarian anarchy can work as a system if people would only give a damn about their people and their countries.
Yakuza patronage can work as a system if people would only give a damn about their people and their countries.

The value of a system in practical terms is how robustly it deals with the inevitable presence of people (psych experiments suggest about a third of the population) who are going to be bastards no matter what, and won't give a damn about other people or their country.

Just sayin'.

[boppers]

25. A third? Citation Please? eom

[SoapBox]

7. There should be a cost to moving...

These companies that decide to do stuff like this, should
have to pay a penalty...that penalty would go to help the
local community and the company workers. Make it for something
like 5 years, so that it hurts and makes the company reconsider.

Or...something.

Next best...boycott.

[Dappleganger]

22. They should repay every single tax-break they ever received.

[bertman]

8. Does this mean that gringos are going to start flooding across the border into Mexico

in search of work?

Pardon the snark, please.

I sat through a presentation by a Whirlpool Corporation rep at the National Green Building Conference a few days ago. Whirlpool was a sponsor, so this guy was extolling the virtues of Whirlpool's new "green" direction. He forgot to mention that they are shutting down U.S. plants and moving them overseas (or maybe to Mexico).

Fuck those dipshits. I will never buy a Whirlpool product again.

[Enthusiast]

10. +1

Who do they think will buy their products once they destroy the livelihood of the customer base?

[bertman]

26. They don't care about that. As long as the top management can keep the company

profitable long enough to escape with their multi-million dollar bonuses, it's fuck the rest of you suckers! American capitalism at its finest.

[Enthusiast]

9. This move needs to be stopped.

This should not be seen as an acceptable move. Polaris should be attacked in the media unmercifully.

[WinkyDink]

17. Because Polaris is somehow different from other corporate entities?

[Enthusiast]

20. It's the timing.

They should all be attacked unmercifully in the media, anyone that moves production out of the country. I have considered buying a Victory motorcycle. I won't buy one if they cut our throats by moving production out of the country. Why should I buy a Victory when it's no better than a Yamaha, maybe not as good.

[Dappleganger]

23. Agreed...they were touting themselves as the new Harley-Davidson.

American motorcycles made on our soil. Now just like HD, they are spitting in the faces of those who built them up to what they are today and taking the money and running.

Mofos.

[Romulox]

21. I will drive my Accord directly to the rally. What color is your Camry, so I'll recognize you?

:shrug:

[Enthusiast]

27. Polaris is set up here.

Honda and Toyota are foreign to start with-big difference.

The move by Polaris is a slap in the face to working America. We desperately need manufacturing jobs. Both Honda and Toyota have manufacturing in this country. By God, toyota and Honda are more loyal to the U.S.A. than Polaris!

[reggie the dog]

11. thank you NAFTA

and i hope that the good folks of wisconsin will stop buying their shit

[Blandocyte]

13. Sucks

that businesses will move to where labor's cheaper and environmental regs looser and then, since we're out of jobs, we pretty much have to buy the cheap crap they make if we want to have any crap at all.

[WinkyDink]

16. Well, the good old boys who ride'em will be in a quandary now, won't they?

Yes, I abhor snowmobiles.

[Scuba]

18. We will miss you Rep Obey.

[fascisthunter]

24. Big Business Men and Women are really Earning American's Disdain

now that we see what corporate America does when it gets its way, they have no leg to stand on when we make our demands of them. Take your bullshit "free-market" and stick it where the sun doesn't shine.