No Jobs For Americans at Heinz
By: Ruth Calvo Saturday December 4, 2010 3:38 am
http://my.firedoglake.com/ruthcalvo/2010/12/04/no-jobs-for-americans-at-heinz/#more-78093 No Jobs for U.S. workers declares Bill Johnson, CEO at Heinz, on Wall Street Journal Report last Saturday
Last Saturday, the CEO of Heinz, best known for ketchup production, told Maria Bartiromo that Heinz will not be hiring Americans this year (at 3:55). The reason he gave was the ‘uncertainty’ produced by the ‘inability’ of the government to decide on really important things such as the tax rate his business will pay. He announced at the same time on the same program that Heinz will be opening facilities and hiring in other countries, and concentrated on China where they make soy sauce.
When you go to any fast food restaurant, you are likely to see his product in little packets. When you visit the grocery store you will find that Heinz enjoys vast amount of that vital shelf space. You are quite likely to have some of Heinz products in your home as well.
Fortunately, I have no taste for ketchup, so I am not a supporter of the services that are not giving any jobs to U.S. workers until the government gets with their program. I just checked, and my sweet relish (wonderful with ham sandwiches) is store brand. There will be no Heinz products in my home again, ever. . . .
The price of doing business in this country is so great that almost every existing business competes for the U.S. consumer with the well known profligacy in buying stuff. This country, instead of competing for the lowest standards of worker pay and benefits, should be taking advantage of the terrific market that our store shelves present.
Government is falling into a distortion of reality by abandoning public protections to attract business. The natural attraction of our consumer economy should be promoted, instead. I would suggest charging for business licenses, and banning products that do not promote our own economic health.
Heinz has pointed up a huge fallacy in our government’s role in regulating business. We need to start refusing business complicity with competitors to blackmail this country into unfriendly policies for our public. Businesses have warped into abusive lobbies with the profits they make from our markets. It’s past time to turn that on them, and demand that access to the profitable U.S. market be gained by promoting the public good instead of trampling on it for their ‘bottom line’ practices.
