On the recordSeptember 22, 2010
I have been listening with fascination to the Senator's speech because there is nobody who comes to the floor and better explains jobs, trade, trade policy, and tax policy and what it does to our communities and our workers. The Senator mentioned two very well known American companies, and both happen to be from my State--Huffy bicycles and Etch A Sketch, which is a company called Ohio Art in Bryan, OH. That is exactly what happened. Walmart came to Ohio Art and said: We want to sell Etch A Sketch for less money than we are selling it for now. So they had no choice. But let me ask the Senator, it seems to me that there has not been anytime in recent history where U.S. companies have put their business plans together in this way: Instead of manufacturing something, cutting costs, and treating their workers decently and contributing to the community--which American companies have done for generations and is why we have such a strong middle class--it seems that the business plan for so many large American companies is to move their production offshore, obviously getting less expensive labor, avoiding environmental and worker safety rules, and then selling the product-- well, first lobbying Congress to change the rules, as they did with PNTR for China, but moving their production out of the country, offshore, producing it, and then selling it back into the home country. That is a curious business plan that many American companies follow.
