Say Goodbye to Boeing?
By Bob Clark | 05/04/09 | 07:36 PM EDT | 3 Comments
One of the hottest topics of interest in and around Snohomish County has been to future of Boeing and the 2nd production line for the 787 (if one is established in the near future). Local politicians such as Aaron Reardon, the Snohomish County Executive, has been working the margins and trying to do an effective PR job in a effort to convince folks that he is on top of the issue, but insiders at the Big B tell me that Aaron has little to offer them and that their primary concern is the State of Washington. Meanwhile Boeing continues to layoff workers in Everett.
This could not come at a worse time for Snohomish County. The current economic downturn is hitting harder here than in King County, for example. The numbers may not show it but the stated number of unemployed, percentage wise, is misleading. While the latest numbers show 9.9% unemployed in the county at the end of February, the estimates are that the number is now at 10.4% at the end of April.
The problem here is that there is another 5% that have given up trying to find a job and also another 6% that were temporary employees that are not eligible to unemployment benefits and also don’t show up on the statistics. So that means that the real unemployment in Snohomish County may be as high at 21.4% or as low as 16.9%! It depends on whose numbers you believe.
To show just how much of an impact a Boeing departure from Washington State would be, Jon Talton wrote an excellent piece in the Seattle Times about local concerns. On top of this I and many others have heard that California is prepared to “give away the store” to convince Boeing to come down to Long Beach or other of the former McDonald Douglas facilities to produce not only the 787 but follow on models of the 777 as well. Talks between Boeing and several other states are underway and they include Texas, South Carolina and Georgia.
For me the biggest surprise came when I heard that not only are labor problems at the top of the Boeing list of reasons to leave Washington State but also the Climate Change/Global Warming extremist agenda that has passed in a preliminary stage in this last legislative session. Tack on he new unemployment insurance hikes and I believe we have a recipe for disaster.
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In ten years the only thing left with Boeing's name on it will be the Boeing Museum of Flight and Boeing Field.
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|Rules and regulations on Federal, State, County or Local level can cause problems politicians never dreamed of. The special interest groups they support want everything now and no one looks at the real cost to the state because of these special rules and regulatons.
Unions are part of the problem because they are one of those special interests that have put more and more regulations to strengthen thier hand in any negotiations. Plus they want to own everything and think profits should be given only to employees not to the investors that make it possible for them to have thier jobs.
Unions and Government are biting the hands that feeds them. Each in thier own way. In the end they will be the losers. And these same groups will turn their attention to other businesses to rape the coffers of until no one is left to pay any of the bills. Unless major changes take place things will get very bad around here. More and more people leaving causing lower and lower revenues available to pay for all these government services. Never do they cut special interest funding. They always cut the core services they are suppose to supply. Will this be the first casualty of the Black hole of Spending in this state?
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|If Boeing leaves this area, Snohomish County property values, already in the toilet, will decline so much that most people will just walk away. Our towns will become ghost towns. We will look like Detroit or worse. Our legislators should be down on their knees to Boeing to get them whatever they need to stay. Instead they are arrogantly ignoring them for a green agenda that will tax every thing that produces carbon for a phoney baloney global warming scam. They ignore the transportation problems and refuse to build roads.
You want to see third world type poverty, with all of it's woes, right on your back doorstep? Don't do anything to stop Boeing from leaving. Just hum a happy little song and tune out. Hope that a bankrupt government can keep paying out unemployment and welfare with no productive workers to pay all the taxes.
Dreamland is a nice place to live in until reality comes knocking on your door. Think it won't affect you? Just keep on dreamin'
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