Comments on: Kia to open plant in Georgia, USA http://www.rjkoehler.com/2006/03/13/kia-to-open-plant-in-georgia-usa/ Korea... in Blog Format Thu, 16 Oct 2008 04:03:30 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 By: usinkorea http://www.rjkoehler.com/2006/03/13/kia-to-open-plant-in-georgia-usa/#comment-30585 usinkorea Mon, 13 Mar 2006 14:48:02 +0000 http://www.rjkoehler.com/?p=2561#comment-30585 This is starting to touch on an issue I've been chewing over this week while watching the DVD of the HBO show - The Wire. What do we consider low wage and what it means? The Wire quote from the commentary that got me thinking about this was the show creator talking about how the war on drugs had become a war against the lower class, and that made me think about how there is this idea in the intellectual community that you can't expect people in the projects to do anything but sell drugs given their lack of opportunity. Then we have the third world bumpkins of the southern US here and several notes in the comments. One of the beefs I have with higher education and the poeople who populate it is how there is such a comtempt for working class people. As if "quiet lives of desperation" were the only ones people like that could live. The way I put it and think about it is like this --- I have no idea how guys and girls who grow up on a farm can end up picking that life as a career later on ---- after having to spend much of their youth getting up before dawn and milking the cows or doing other farm chores before going to school. But, just because I can't understand how someone would find satisfaction in a life that included such work --- doesn't mean all those people are idiots, misguided, or secretly yearning they could be something else. It took me a long time to realize that. I had to go to college for too many years and travel around to figure it out. This is starting to touch on an issue I’ve been chewing over this week while watching the DVD of the HBO show - The Wire.

What do we consider low wage and what it means?

The Wire quote from the commentary that got me thinking about this was the show creator talking about how the war on drugs had become a war against the lower class, and that made me think about how there is this idea in the intellectual community that you can’t expect people in the projects to do anything but sell drugs given their lack of opportunity.

Then we have the third world bumpkins of the southern US here and several notes in the comments.

One of the beefs I have with higher education and the poeople who populate it is how there is such a comtempt for working class people.

As if “quiet lives of desperation” were the only ones people like that could live.

The way I put it and think about it is like this — I have no idea how guys and girls who grow up on a farm can end up picking that life as a career later on —- after having to spend much of their youth getting up before dawn and milking the cows or doing other farm chores before going to school.

But, just because I can’t understand how someone would find satisfaction in a life that included such work — doesn’t mean all those people are idiots, misguided, or secretly yearning they could be something else.

It took me a long time to realize that. I had to go to college for too many years and travel around to figure it out.

]]> By: cm http://www.rjkoehler.com/2006/03/13/kia-to-open-plant-in-georgia-usa/#comment-30584 cm Mon, 13 Mar 2006 14:22:48 +0000 http://www.rjkoehler.com/?p=2561#comment-30584 Hi Luxbear. West Point Georgia's biggest industry and employer is the textile industry. The wages are very low. Beggars can't be choosers. Instead of thinking of this as a 'bribe', I tend to think that it's accurate to say it's an 'investment' which will see a hundred fold return in 20 years. Hi Luxbear. West Point Georgia’s biggest industry and employer is the textile industry. The wages are very low. Beggars can’t be choosers. Instead of thinking of this as a ‘bribe’, I tend to think that it’s accurate to say it’s an ‘investment’ which will see a hundred fold return in 20 years.

]]> By: luxbearer http://www.rjkoehler.com/2006/03/13/kia-to-open-plant-in-georgia-usa/#comment-30578 luxbearer Mon, 13 Mar 2006 13:25:46 +0000 http://www.rjkoehler.com/?p=2561#comment-30578 from the <a href="http://www.fdimagazine.com/news/fullstory.php/aid/471/Efficiency_drive.html" rel="nofollow">foreign direct investment.</a> The precedent was set in the early 1990s when Mercedes-Benz began looking for investment options around the globe. After looking at 170 sites, Mercedes-Benz finally pitted North Carolina, South Carolina and Alabama against each other in the high-stakes contest. The kicker came when Mercedes asked the finalist states to pay its workers’ salaries for the first years. Alabama said yes, and proceeded to not only pay the salaries, but also provide workers’ training programmes, clear and improve the site, upgrade utilities, and buy 2500 Mercedes vehicles itself. and for Hyundai Pushing to become the Detroit of the south, Alabama is handing a $252.8m incentive package to Hyundai Motor Co (HMC) to create the biggest economic development project in the state’s history. The $1bn US automotive assembly operation will encompass two million sqft upon completion, produce 300,000 cars and trucks annually and generate up to $250m a year in wages for its 5000 direct and indirect employees. The first cars are due to be produced in 2005. “By 2010 we plan to reach an annual production of five million cars and trucks, consisting of 3.5 million units in Korea and 1.5 million overseas,” Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama President Yang-Soo Kim projects. it seems like the state governments down south are "officially bribing" the foreign car makers? from the

foreign direct investment.

The precedent was set in the early 1990s when Mercedes-Benz began looking for investment options around the globe. After looking at 170 sites, Mercedes-Benz finally pitted North Carolina, South Carolina and Alabama against each other in the high-stakes contest. The kicker came when Mercedes asked the finalist states to pay its workers’ salaries for the first years. Alabama said yes, and proceeded to not only pay the salaries, but also provide workers’ training programmes, clear and improve the site, upgrade utilities, and buy 2500 Mercedes vehicles itself.

and for Hyundai

Pushing to become the Detroit of the south, Alabama is handing a $252.8m incentive package to Hyundai Motor Co (HMC) to create the biggest economic development project in the state’s history. The $1bn US automotive assembly operation will encompass two million sqft upon completion, produce 300,000 cars and trucks annually and generate up to $250m a year in wages for its 5000 direct and indirect employees. The first cars are due to be produced in 2005.
“By 2010 we plan to reach an annual production of five million cars and trucks, consisting of 3.5 million units in Korea and 1.5 million overseas,” Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama President Yang-Soo Kim projects.

it seems like the state governments down south are “officially bribing” the foreign car makers?

]]> By: usinkorea http://www.rjkoehler.com/2006/03/13/kia-to-open-plant-in-georgia-usa/#comment-30576 usinkorea Mon, 13 Mar 2006 13:13:16 +0000 http://www.rjkoehler.com/?p=2561#comment-30576 I believe the move also involves the cutting of transportation and other costs associated with shipping finished or intermediate products from Korea to the US. Us bumpkins be happy to get em jobs...like yall said.... Oh...and the lack of unions and general distrust of them in the south is also a selling point for Korean and German auto and parts makers. I believe the move also involves the cutting of transportation and other costs associated with shipping finished or intermediate products from Korea to the US.

Us bumpkins be happy to get em jobs…like yall said….

Oh…and the lack of unions and general distrust of them in the south is also a selling point for Korean and German auto and parts makers.

]]> By: dda http://www.rjkoehler.com/2006/03/13/kia-to-open-plant-in-georgia-usa/#comment-30574 dda Mon, 13 Mar 2006 10:43:07 +0000 http://www.rjkoehler.com/?p=2561#comment-30574 <blockquote><strong>Mongermery</strong> residents in Alabama</blockquote> That would be <a href="http://www.hmmausa.com/company.cfm?id=32" rel="nofollow">Montgomery</a>, right? Unless we're talking abour war<strong>monger</strong>, <strong>merry</strong> Alabamans...? :-)

Mongermery residents in Alabama

That would be Montgomery, right? Unless we’re talking abour warmonger, merry Alabamans…?
:-)

]]> By: Brendon Carr http://www.rjkoehler.com/2006/03/13/kia-to-open-plant-in-georgia-usa/#comment-30571 Brendon Carr Mon, 13 Mar 2006 09:18:38 +0000 http://www.rjkoehler.com/?p=2561#comment-30571 "Cheaper" has a number of different meanings. If the output in Georgia is greater productivity and greater quality (which remains to be seen), for less hassle than in Korea -- it matters not if the absolute wage might be higher. “Cheaper” has a number of different meanings. If the output in Georgia is greater productivity and greater quality (which remains to be seen), for less hassle than in Korea — it matters not if the absolute wage might be higher.

]]> By: cm http://www.rjkoehler.com/2006/03/13/kia-to-open-plant-in-georgia-usa/#comment-30567 cm Mon, 13 Mar 2006 07:22:36 +0000 http://www.rjkoehler.com/?p=2561#comment-30567 Just being humorus there. But I may not be that far off, considering that the US south has traditionally lagged far behind the rest of the country economically. Just being humorus there. But I may not be that far off, considering that the US south has traditionally lagged far behind the rest of the country economically.

]]> By: luxbearer http://www.rjkoehler.com/2006/03/13/kia-to-open-plant-in-georgia-usa/#comment-30565 luxbearer Mon, 13 Mar 2006 07:12:14 +0000 http://www.rjkoehler.com/?p=2561#comment-30565 the us, at least the south, is now "cheaper wage countries and states"? the us, at least the south, is now “cheaper wage countries and states”?

]]> By: cm http://www.rjkoehler.com/2006/03/13/kia-to-open-plant-in-georgia-usa/#comment-30554 cm Mon, 13 Mar 2006 04:52:05 +0000 http://www.rjkoehler.com/?p=2561#comment-30554 This is a god send gift to the workers in Georgia, especially with GM and Ford shutting down their unprofitable plants in Georgia. At first, 3000 workers will be hired with the average wage of $50,000 US - extremely high paying jobs for an area that is economically depressed. Mongermery residents in Alabama (already home to profitable Hyundai America plant #1, home to the biggest employer in the area, and only 80 miles away from West Point Georgia) are also smack licking their lips as they celebrate. It is expected that they too will see an overnight doubling employment of their auto parts industry. This news is big in state of Georgia where thousands of GM and Ford workers have already been laid off. It is expected, many will flock to Kia. And the losers are... I guess workers in Korea? They are rapidly losing manufacturing base to cheaper wage countries and states. This is a god send gift to the workers in Georgia, especially with GM and Ford shutting down their unprofitable plants in Georgia. At first, 3000 workers will be hired with the average wage of $50,000 US - extremely high paying jobs for an area that is economically depressed. Mongermery residents in Alabama (already home to profitable Hyundai America plant #1, home to the biggest employer in the area, and only 80 miles away from West Point Georgia) are also smack licking their lips as they celebrate. It is expected that they too will see an overnight doubling employment of their auto parts industry. This news is big in state of Georgia where thousands of GM and Ford workers have already been laid off. It is expected, many will flock to Kia.

And the losers are… I guess workers in Korea? They are rapidly losing manufacturing base to cheaper wage countries and states.

]]> By: Sperwer http://www.rjkoehler.com/2006/03/13/kia-to-open-plant-in-georgia-usa/#comment-30551 Sperwer Mon, 13 Mar 2006 03:46:31 +0000 http://www.rjkoehler.com/?p=2561#comment-30551 When are Koreans going to wake up to the fact that their elite is rapidly exporting industry and jobs abroad while heavily discouraging foreign penetration of their own market so that they enjoy the best of both worlds at the expense of the ordinary Korean worker/consumer? The "people and the land are one" crowd are suffering from a terminal case of false consciousness that plays right into the hands of their class/political enemies. When are Koreans going to wake up to the fact that their elite is rapidly exporting industry and jobs abroad while heavily discouraging foreign penetration of their own market so that they enjoy the best of both worlds at the expense of the ordinary Korean worker/consumer? The “people and the land are one” crowd are suffering from a terminal case of false consciousness that plays right into the hands of their class/political enemies.

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