The Lehigh Valley is no longer steel country. Instead of blast furnaces, we have one-armed bandits and craps. Slate mining made famous by our Welsh population is gone, too. All we have left are the pasties they used to pack for lunch. Victaulic might be here another two years before moving to Mexico. Even the rag mills of Pen Argyl and Wind Gap are gone, replaced by garment manufacturers in Thailand, Vietnam, Taiwan and China. And our farmers, who feed the world, are dying off, one by one. We still have cement, but amazingly, President Obama's stimulus package may ruin that industry, too.We've known that federal stimulus money is already being used to create and retain jobs in places like Japan and France, but did you know it's being used to take away jobs here in the Lehigh Valley? The feds are investing $28 million to build a cement import and distribution facility in Staten Island. And guess what? Cementos Lima, a Peruvian competitor to domestic cement producers, will bring in 25 to 30 ships full of South American cement through Staten Island. Up until now, LV cement has supplied NY construction.
Today, LV Congressman Charlie Dent, who just happens to co-chair the House Cement Caucus, will host a press conference questioning the use of federal government financing authorized in the Stimulus Bill, to support a project that will jeopardize jobs in the Lehigh Valley’s critical cement industry. He'll be joined by representatives from Buzzi Unicem USA (Stockertown), Essroc (Nazareth), Keystone Cement Company (Bath), Lafarge North America (Whitehall) and Lehigh Cement Company (Allentown - unconfirmed).
Dent has already complained to President Obama over the federal government’s support for the creation of Peruvian jobs at the expense of the Lehigh Valley.
Stimulus $ For Peruvian Cement?
26 comments:
You voted for this cool cat. Many of us tried to warn you, but how could you resist being part of history, right?
OTOH, while the loss of a single American job overseas should be prevented at all costs, these cement companies wouldn't be missed for long. They have no trouble exploiting when it suits their needs. The crap they've put in the air, and all over our cars and homes over the years makes it hard to get too worked up about.
Yep, I voted for him. Ironically, many of these cement companies are owend by foreign companies, but at least they are hiring American workers.
Man. I am 100% against free trade, but you can't blame that crap on Obama. If free trade is the prevailing ideology of elected politicians, which it seems to be, then it only makes sense to try to get the cheapest cement possible as a potential way to boost construction spending/activity - the whole point of free trade is to lower the price of everything, and it should come as no shock that American companies cannot compete on price in the global market!
do you ever tire of repeating charlie's talking points?
I miss the good old days under Bush when jobs went to Mexico instead of Peru.
Bush was bad. Obama is much worse. I miss Bush.
While it certainly is an outrage that we are not using our own cement powder and labor.. face it in the end the stimulus will end up in overseas pockets because American companies no longer own cement businesses. Ultimately there is not a single foreign holding company that will not benefit from stimulus checks. Because.. there ain't too damned much America does own anymore!! Guess cement gets added to the long-ago list (steel, ship building, electronic manufacturing, etc. etc.)
Essroc-"We are a member of the Italcementi Group of companies. Italcementi Group is a world leader in cement production with annual sales topping 4.5 billion euros and operations located on 4 continents."
Keystone- "1994 Keystone and Giant became part of a publicly-traded company, Giant Cement Holding Inc. (GCHI). On December 9, 1999, Cementos Portland Valderrivas of Madrid, Spain purchased GCHI and its subsidiaries. Cementos Portland Valderrivas is controlled by Fomento de Construcciones y Contratos (FCC), an international construction company with executive offices in Spain. "
Lafarge- "is a French industrial company."
Lehigh Cement- ""A Heidelberg Cement Group (Germany)"
Permission to Change Topic:
Bernie,
Hoping you would blog about the Simmons-Horton debate broadcasted on Business Matters last night. Looked forward to seeing these two discuss matters as we are still undecided. Horton did not shut up long enough for Simmons to speak. What do others think?
Typical politician in an election year but a slanted blogger that is loosing his edge...
The crap they've put in the air, and all over our cars and homes over the years makes it hard to get too worked up about.
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Americans find old line industries too "icky" anymore. Problem is, many old line industries are the foundation of economic development and the stepping stone for further greater economic growth.
.
I suppose we'll all make a great living once those wind turbine plants Barack Obama and the Democrats talked about start popping up all over the country.
Horton came off as an arrogant, untrustworthy bully. I liked the guy before last night. What a POS.
Anonymous said...
Horton came off as an arrogant, untrustworthy bully. I liked the guy before last night. What a POS.
8:35 AM
We were willing to give Horton a chance to present his qualifications for this very office. However, it became clear soon into the debate, this was a Horton bully session. Horton dominated every question. Even as Tony began to introduce a new topic, Horton interrupted. Tony did a horrible job as host. He was completely ineffective.
"do you ever tire of repeating charlie's talking points?"
Actually, this has nothing to do w/ his Congressional race. He is doing his job, trying to protect LV jobs. It is ironic that these companies are foreign, but the jobs are not. They are very local, right here. I thought stimulus money was designed to create and retain jobs, but did not know it was designed to create and retain them in Peru.
I,along with 50 of my co-workers, would like to inform you that the slate industry in Pen Argyl is still alive and yes we still do buy pasties locally. Granted it is not what it once was but none the less we are still here. Fighting against an ever growing supply of imported slate has been an uphill battle but to be associated with the Bethlehem Steels and the garment industries of this area is inaccurate and certainly is the wrong image to have people believe.
Sincerely,
John Dally Jr.
Penn Big Bed Slate Co.-Dally Slate Division
" If free trade is the prevailing ideology of elected politicians, which it seems to be, then it only makes sense to try to get the cheapest cement possible as a potential way to boost construction spending/activity - the whole point of free trade is to lower the price of everything, and it should come as no shock that American companies cannot compete on price in the global market!"
But isn't stimulus designed to protect and create American jobs?
Where's the proof that this is going to result in job losses?
Anonymous 5:43 is exactly right - this is free trade in action, and if you don't like it, then you need to vote out unapologetic corporate-led free trade supporters like Charlie Dent, who was last heard boosting a new free trade agreement with Korea in the College Hill debate. John Callahan is more skeptical of free trade agreements than Dent.
Dent is also a supporter of outsourcing and has never done anything to slow the trend of American companies outsourcing, has never supported job retraining and relocation programs for victims of outsourcing.
He doesn't even agree that we should stop subsidizing outsourcing - creating an outright financial incentive for companies to outsource jobs and undermining US workers.
This is a stunt. At the policy level, Dent is on the side of the free traders and the outsourcers and is encouraging these policies in Washington while complaining about their local effects for political gain. If he wants to create more demand for LV cement companies he should be pushing for more stimulus spending on our deteriorating infrastructure. We should build now while it's cheap.
Thank you, Clem.
Many of us DID try to warn O'Hare of what was coming.
He chose to attack and smear Obama's detractors and, instead, be a part of history.
It is hysterical to watch him backtrack now.
At least he wasn't the only one who fell for the Captain Hope and Change's campaign BS...
GOTZ VON BERLICHINGEN
GOTZ VON BERLICHINGEN (1:19PM) said, "At least he wasn't the only one who fell for the Captain Hope and Change's campaign BS...
Right on! Let's go back to the good old days of 2008.. yah hoo!
Yet another taking a whack W/O offering an alternative solution.
Your deep insights can earn nothing other then my admiration. Just awesome! Your words inspire me to join in your shared beliefs. I can think of no better way to win my support in November for your cause.
President William Jefferson Clinton, democrat from Arkansas, liberal god, our first black president, signed NAFTA.
Now "History", you can't be talking about things like facts, it flies in the face of the Liberal Progressive movement of revisionist history.
Remember, Liberal Progressives never take responsibility for anything they did, it's always someone else's fault, namely Republicans.
Uhhhh.....Your mother wears Army boots.
Hate to break it to the fascists in the room, but Bill Clinton is not a liberal progressive!
Bill Clinton is a chameleon. He started out as a Liberal Progressive, got hammered in 1994 and went to the middle to salvage his political future.
He's the consummate politician - he'll do whatever it takes to be reelected.
... and he did not impale!
Saul Alinsky, It is thanks to intelligent comments like yours that this blog is so popular.
"He chose to attack and smear Obama's detractors and, instead, be a part of history."
This was anonymously posted by PigPen, whose comments here ae unwelcome. I chided him when he made bigoted remarks about Muslims. He reacted angrly, and I decided to ban him. His comments here are unwelcome.
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