DUmmies Discuss Caterpillar Leaving Illinois

[GOBUCKS]

The Northerner (1000+ posts)        Fri Mar-25-11 07:15 PM
Original message
Caterpillar CEO's letter talks of leaving Illinois
SPRINGFIELD -- The chairman and CEO of Peoria-based Caterpillar Inc. is raising the specter of moving the heavy equipment maker out of Illinois.

In a letter sent on March 21 to Gov. Pat Quinn, Caterpillar chief executive officer Doug Oberhelman said officials in at least four other states have approached the company about relocating since Illinois raised its income tax in January.

"I want to stay here. But as the leader of this business, I have to do what's right for Caterpillar when making decisions about where to invest," Oberhelman wrote in the letter obtained on Friday by the Lee Enterprises Springfield bureau. "The direction that this state is headed in is not favorable to business and I'd like to work with you to change that."

Oberhelman said he's being actively courted to move.

"I have been called, 'cornered' in meetings and 'wined and dined' -- the heat is on," Oberhelman wrote. "Before, I never really considered living anywhere else and certainly never considered the possibility of Caterpillar relocating. But I have to admit, the policymakers in Springfield seem to make it harder by the day."

Read more: http://www.pantagraph.com/news/local/article_3c23590c-5...

 http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=439x741446

yourout  (1000+ posts)      Fri Mar-25-11 07:17 PM
Response to Original message
1. In other words......."give me money".

More like, "don't take so much of my money."
 
 

walldude  (1000+ posts)        Fri Mar-25-11 07:18 PM
Response to Original message
2. Gotta avoid those taxes... the CEO will be pissed if he only makes
10 million this year... 

DUmmy walldud is smarter than poor, stupid Beth Ferrari, but he's DUmber than nearly every other DUmbass at the DUmp.

wilt the stilt (1000+ posts)      Fri Mar-25-11 07:21 PM
Response to Original message
3. this is what we do in Amrica now
we try to steal businesses from each other. Not create jobs but steal businesses. This is the business model of the south. We saw this in the sixties and seventies.

Brickbat  (1000+ posts)      Fri Mar-25-11 08:01 PM
Response to Reply #3
12. Exactly -- states can't wait to scab on each other so they can run back and triumphantly claim they
created "jobs" -- all while throwing huge tax breaks and easements at the company. And then they wonder why they're in financial straights. It is to scream.

How dare companies try to minimize their tax burden! It's outrageous.

abelenkpe (1000+ posts)     Fri Mar-25-11 07:22 PM
Response to Original message
4. Well
I for one hope the state tells Catepillar to F off.

What some other state is going to give him more breaks? More incentives? In this economy? They have a lot of nerve.

Right. No problem if they leave for the South. Just raise taxes even more on the companies that stay.
 

Horse with no Name  (1000+ posts)        Fri Mar-25-11 07:24 PM
Response to Original message
5. What a whore.

A subject with which DUmmy Horse with no Name is intimately familiar.
 

LeftofObama (18 posts)     Fri Mar-25-11 07:30 PM
Response to Original message
6. Don't let the door hit ya on the way out Mr. Oberhelman
It's time we stop catering to these whiney asses!

 

Bigmack  (1000+ posts)        Fri Mar-25-11 07:32 PM
Response to Original message
7. No offense to the states courting Cat...
but some companies have moved to states in an unnamed region and found the workers not as.... trainable as workers from the better educated states.
I am, of course, not talking native intelligence... whatever that is, but rather education level and ability to pick up new skills.
Good luck, Cat... I hope you're not stepping on your own dick.

In other words, southern workers aren't nearly as smart as the union thugs who have destroyed the blue states.
 

w8liftinglady  (1000+ posts)        Fri Mar-25-11 07:43 PM
Response to Original message
9. big f%cking shock... Texas is one of the possible states
you know, our great "Right-to-work" state.

 

Horse with no Name  (1000+ posts)        Fri Mar-25-11 08:06 PM
Response to Reply #11
15. This is where the states "fail" willingly or unwillingly
IF I had to give "concessions" and "tax breaks" to a company to park their asses in my state, I probably would.

However, there would be a ONE-TIME negotiation--before they set up shop.

AND there would be an ironclad clause that stated IF they pulled up stakes and relocated--out of state, out of country, etc...that every single solitary red cent of taxpayer money would be due and payable 30 days before they closed shop AND if not paid...a lien would be put on the business.

The little cash-stores contracts have more legal teeth than these types of agreements.

 

Overseas  (1000+ posts)        Fri Mar-25-11 08:04 PM
Response to Original message
14. So disgusting. Wonderful "free trade" -- Race To The Bottom.
 So he's going off to a state that will slash social safety nets to lower corporate taxes.

Golly gee, gotta make more and more profit for the shareholders and chief executives. They can live in gated communities or overseas so they don't have to see the homeless. They can afford fancy medical care so they need not see the overcrowded emergency rooms.

This thread desperately needs the insights of the know-it-all DUmmy nadinbrzhzhzhzhski on the history of labor.
 

Stinky The Clown  (1000+ posts)        Fri Mar-25-11 10:42 PM
Response to Original message
23. You . . . . Mother . . . . ****ing . . . . Extortionist

Quadruple. Pittian. Dot. Emphasis. Remarkable.

[BEG]

Wonder how they feel about Obama's job czar's company paying ZERO taxes.

[DumbAss Tanker]

Bigmack  (1000+ posts)        Fri Mar-25-11 07:32 PM
Response to Original message
7. No offense to the states courting Cat...
but some companies have moved to states in an unnamed region and found the workers not as.... trainable as workers from the better educated states.
I am, of course, not talking native intelligence... whatever that is, but rather education level and ability to pick up new skills.
Good luck, Cat... I hope you're not stepping on your own dick.

Try again, needledick, none of those plants built in the South failed for that reason.  Ignorant or untrained can be fixed; lazy, disloyal, and dishonest can't.

[FreeBorn]

Wonder how they feel about Obama's job czar's company paying ZERO taxes.

Great point, Beg. Bump up for that one. 

[diesel driver]

Wonder how they feel about Obama's job czar's company paying ZERO taxes.

I wonder if they know the second largest corporation in the world, GE, paid $ZERO taxes last year on a $12+ BILLION net income.

Probably not.

[Doc Savage]

walldude  (1000+ posts)        Fri Mar-25-11 07:18 PM
Response to Original message
2. Gotta avoid those taxes... the CEO will be pissed if he only makes
10 million this year...

I guess he missed the part about the 22K employees that would be either loosing their jobs or moving.  Maybe the dummies should check their mutual funds and see if they own Cat, or GE, or Exxon stock.  Give them a chance to sell and bury the dollars in the back yard.

[JohnnyReb]

I guess he missed the part about the 22K employees that would be either loosing their jobs or moving.  Maybe the dummies should check their mutual funds and see if they own Cat, or GE, or Exxon stock.  Give them a chance to sell and bury the dollars in the back yard.

Wasn't it about this time last year that Obama made a speech at CAT* a couple of days before (or after) they laid off a bunch of workers? Maybe if he made another speech he could save the plant and Ill. jobs (think olympics... ).

[Tucker]

Overseas  (1000+ posts)        Fri Mar-25-11 08:04 PM
Response to Original message
14. So disgusting. Wonderful "free trade" -- Race To The Bottom.
 So he's going off to a state that will slash social safety nets to lower corporate taxes.

Golly gee, gotta make more and more profit for the shareholders and chief executives. They can live in gated communities or overseas so they don't have to see the homeless. They can afford fancy medical care so they need not see the overcrowded emergency rooms.

Business does not exist to assist the entitlement class. They exist to make money for their investors.

[Freeper]

As usual the DUmmies miss the big picture. When you raise taxes on evil corporations, they pass those costs on to us, the consumer. When our costs for things rise we tend to put off buying a new tractor (like in this case) which means sales go down which means the company loses money, people get laid off, or they close the doors.

[NHSparky]

Brickbat  (1000+ posts)      Fri Mar-25-11 08:01 PM
Response to Reply #3
12. Exactly -- states can't wait to scab on each other so they can run back and triumphantly claim they
created "jobs" -- all while throwing huge tax breaks and easements at the company. And then they wonder why they're in financial straights. It is to scream.

Of course, what the DUmmies DON'T realize (nor does the 'Rat party) is that eventually, if you tax something enough, it disappears, or "goes Galt" by moving somewhere else with more business-friendly climes.

Even NH is slowly beginning to realize that.  For years, we've gone with the, "Well, our business taxes aren't as high as Mass!" meme, but knowing full well they're still way too high.  Now the adults are back in charge and even Governor Do-Nothing realizes he's not going to get the blank check he had under the Dems when they controlled the Legislature and Senate for the last 4 years.

[longview]

As usual the DUmmies miss the big picture.

And a plethora of details. 

[franksolich]

As usual the DUmmies miss the big picture. When you raise taxes on evil corporations, they pass those costs on to us, the consumer. When our costs for things rise we tend to put off buying a new tractor (like in this case) which means sales go down which means the company loses money, people get laid off, or they close the doors.

Come on now, sir; you know better than that.

That concept is far too difficult for the primitive brain to absorb.

[jukin]

Never fear dear DUchebags, the donk party of illinois will tell Caterpillar to "Kindly, please go f*ck yourself." Caterpillar will move, produce more product, make more money, and bring great prosperity to where it moves. The communist democrats will yelp and whine about how mean big business is. The CDP of illinois has a business model and that model is Detroit.  This is a case of the host moving on before the parasite can kill it.

I have also heard rumors of Boeing leaving as well.

[dandi]

This would be the smartest thing Cat could do.  Move to a "right to work" state, kiss the corrupt Illinoidian political machine and the unions goodbye, let the clueless Luddites flail in their own shit.  The only thing that I see wrong about this was broadcasting it to the world instead of just picking up and hauling ass.  It doesn't matter what temporary fix the thugs in Springfield throw at Cat, it will be only temporary.

Someone needs to tell the CEO that if he sits still, the crocodile will eventually eat him; it's just a matter of time before it happens.

And to you lurking DUmbasses, well, reality is a bitch.  Enjoy your long overdue economics lesson.

[thundley4]

Oberhelman is supposed to meet with Quinn sometime soon.  Some in the statehouse are talking about changing Worker's Comp laws to make it more affordable for businesses.  That does little to ameliorate the huge rise in taxes.

[RobJohnson]

Wonder how they feel about Obama's job czar's company paying ZERO taxes.

True. Or some of the banks that Obama bailed out. 

[RobJohnson]

I guess he missed the part about the 22K employees that would be either loosing their jobs or moving.  Maybe the dummies should check their mutual funds and see if they own Cat, or GE, or Exxon stock.  Give them a chance to sell and bury the dollars in the back yard.

It's also a UAW shop with a long history of labor issues.

At one time they had  plant on the banks of the Mississppi River in Bettendorf, IA. There is a gambling boat there now. Part of the old warehouse is used for "enclosed parking."

Less UAW in IL is a good thing for jobs. Case-IH pulled out of East Moline and moved to Grand Island, NE. The wages, benefits and piece work made it too hard to compete.

I used to help make the cabs for this:



I was in my teens/early 20's.....I worked for a company that made cabs for the big 3 of the equipment companies, back when they were all American names. 

[JohnnyReb]

A lot of CAT* stuff is already built overseas. Only the very large equipment is still built in the US of A. I guess they want to run off that last little bit.

Saw some ads for "used" CAT* equipment the other day.
2005 model CAT D-10 dozer...$1,325,000.00
2005 model rock truck $1,350,000.00

Just imagine the new cost. Yeah, run that cheap stuff off too.

[Rebel]

A lot of CAT* stuff is already built overseas. Only the very large equipment is still built in the US of A. I guess they want to run off that last little bit.

Saw some ads for "used" CAT* equipment the other day.
2005 model CAT D-10 dozer...$1,325,000.00
2005 model rock truck $1,350,000.00

Just imagine the new cost. Yeah, run that cheap stuff off too.

Edgefield county has a lot of room for a factory. With your current "business-friendly" governor, I'm sure she could make a pitch to them.

[Karin]

The DUmmies' responses are predictable and impotent with all these stories, just like Carl's Jr. out of Cali and into TX. 

**** em.  Let's boycott.

Sadly, the Board of Directors making these decisions do not hear their plaintive cries. 

BTW, this last weekend I purchased me some Koch Bros. GP Quilted Northern toilet paper.   

[SSG Snuggle Bunny]

walldude  (1000+ posts)        Fri Mar-25-11 07:18 PM
Response to Original message
2. Gotta avoid those taxes... the CEO will be pissed if he only makes
10 million this year...

 

Tell us how you feel about John Kerry skating MA state taxes by parking his yacht in RI.

[JohnnyReb]

Edgefield county has a lot of room for a factory. With your current "business-friendly" governor, I'm sure she could make a pitch to them.

Well, that might do. They would have Charleston close at hand to ship all over the world. NuCor steel is in the Charleston area, maybe they could get their steel there. Lot of qualified workers available. Hell yeah they would be welcomed here, anywhere in S.C..

[debk]

TN would welcome them too.

[docstew]

It's not just big companies like Caterpillar.  Some friends of mine that work for a small business in northern IL (FatWallet.com, in case you were wondering) posted on fb how they were relocating to WI.  This company recently (within the last two years) built a new headquarters in Rockton, IL, but they're relocating to Beloit, WI due to tax increases.

[true_blood]

Again,....DUmmies and their economic sense.
Oh yeah. They have none, which is why they have no clue why a company needs to do what it needs to do to survive.