By Jamie Barrie D uring their first debate Donald Trump played the card, but missed the point. Hillary Clinton acted like the elephant in the room was invisible. To the critical analysts, both showed their inability to talk about the recent announcement by Ford to migrate high paying auto industry jobs to Mexico. These manufacturing positions represent the backbone of a U.S. blue collar workforce starving for positive news versus more stories about an industry off shoring production and jobs. These are the issues needing discussion, not deleted emails, filed tax returns or former pageant winners. The problem the candidates are side stepping is not one of making people aware of the issue but an inability to discuss a plan to hold companies accountable. Many watched waiting for one of the two Presidential candidates to say the obvious. The U.S., despite its economic woes, represents one of the most attractive consumer markets in the world. Yet almost weekly a company announces they will eliminate more U.S. based jobs by off-shoring productions without sanction. They simply ship the products back to the U.S. for sale. In doing so these companies avoid everything from benefit plans for workers to regulatory standards for the environment, but most importantly put Americans out of work. The problem the candidates are side stepping is not one of making people aware of the issue but an inability to discuss a plan to hold companies accountable. When one of the most patriotic American companies like Ford takes this direc- tion it reveals a much bigger problem of complacency and acceptance within government and consumers of greed and indifference by corporations.
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SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS • OCTOBER 2016
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