US Manufacturing Looks Good to Europe
A few months ago I wrote about how the costs of shipping from Asia to California was making it economically feasible to rebuild the manufacturing sector of the US economy in a post titled Expensive Oil’s Upside. This new story from Financial Times shows another reason we may soon see an increase in good manufacturing jobs here in the United States.
Manufacturers turn to US
by Richard Milne in London
Published: September 7 2008 18:19 | Last updated: September 7 2008 18:19The latest cheap manufacturing site for European companies is not in Asia or eastern Europe but the United States, say top executives from some of the continent’s biggest companies.
“It may sound like a joke but it can be cheaper than you imagine to manufacture there,” the chairman of one of Germany’s largest automobile groups told the Financial Times.
The reason is less the level of the dollar, which remains relatively low in spite of the euro’s recent plunge, but rather the huge level of incentives some US states are offering companies to set up factories in their region.
Tennessee, for instance, has just disclosed that it agreed to give German carmaker Volkswagen $577m in incentives for its $1bn plant in Chattanooga.
A senior executive at Fiat, the Italian industrial conglomerate, said: “With the amount of money US states are willing to throw at you, you would be stupid to turn them down at the moment. It is one of the low-cost locations to be in at the moment.”
Read the rest at Manufacturers turn to US
Interesting, but that 557 million dollars is coming from somewhere. On the other hand, what a great way to spend compared to the billions going to the war.
Wills last blog post..Wordless Wednesday 9-10-2008
Hmm, I don’t know whether to be happy or sad.
eriks last blog post..And your little dog, too