Missing Justification for Moving Plants Overseas

| |
Related articles: Opinion > The Reader\'s Turn

I am responding to your article, “Indiana City Braces for Whirlpool Plant Closing.” Maybe if journalists and the firms closing plants in the United States could present the truth of the actual savings to the company in print, instead of just telling us the company is relocating due to unknown cost savings, it would help us Americans understand the move and allow us to actually help reverse or dissuade these moves. It really doesn't make sense to us Americans who are starting to live worse than those in the "third world" countries where these multi-billion dollar conglomerates are moving their plants to.

For example, I heard of such a company that replaced professional staff earning $33/hr. in the United States on a one-for-one basis with India's professionals at $30/hr. Did this really affect its billion dollar revenue? Are these companies moving because there are other factors behind the move since dollar for dollar, the impact on net income cannot be high enough to influence long-term stock prices or the survival of the company?

The savings were purely in the overhead and benefits which are typically three times one’s regular salary in the United States.

If we start to reign in the colossal U.S. medical and dental costs, it might become more attractive for these multi-billion dollar companies to remain in the United States.

D. Matonis, PhD, Eng.
Chicago, IL USA