Where is Lou Dobbs?

When I’m on the road I’ll try to watch Lou Dobbs occasionally, for as long as I can stand it. I find his obvious bias against globalization and shifting manufacturing locations to be disconcerting and fraudulent. If you listen to him too much, I’m afraid that you would see a very dim future for the USA and our workers.

Dobbs surely forgot to report to his viewers that manufacturing production in the USA hit a record level in November, right? The fact that we have never produced more than we are now doesn’t fit with the message that he wants to convey, masking it in a news format. I’m sure that he also found someway to negatively report the 193,000 jobs added to the economy in January or that over 4,000,000 new jobs have been added since the recession of 2001. The fact that unemployment, at 4.7%, is also the lowest in 4 ½ years also is skimmed over. Or, that more people than in the history of the USA are today working in this country!

And, an announcement on Friday in Gallatin, TN (population 22,230) where I was touring and doing a talk earlier in the week surely just slipped below his radar screen. I’m typing this with my tongue firmly in my cheek.

Samick Corporation announced plans to build a 200,000 sf manufacturing and distribution center and 14,000 sf corporate office building in Gallatin. The company is moving 30 people from City of Industry, CA because of the quality of life and lower operating cost structure that they found in TN. The manufacturing jobs of making pianos and guitars are going to be moving from Korea. Once its production achieves full production, Samick will become the largest producer of pianos in the USA.

Clay Walker, head of ED for Gallatin, said of the move, “They found that our labor offered significant advantages to foreign labor.”

The project will start initially with 110 employees with plans to add 25/year for at least the first 3 years. Samick follows Nissan, which recently moved their corporate headquarters from CA to south of Nashville. Forward Sumner has another relocation from CA in the works, also bringing production from overseas.

Makes you wonder why this isn’t newsworthy for Lou Dobbs, doesn’t it?