Professor Elam

That famous phrase begins Dickens’Tale of Two Cities.  Today it could be the Tale of Two States.

Please read this hyperlinked article.  As a high school senior we debated the topic of a National Right to Work Law. It was then I learned all about Open/Union/Closed shop states. Simply, a right to work law means one does not have to join a union to work. A closed shop state means one does. Unions of course want compulsory union membership, more rights for workers they say. Well the world has voted. AS the WSJ points out, no foreign manufacturer will build in a closed shop state. This weekend I saw an interview with one of the view Ohio employers in a small town. His plant made paper.  He paid workers $20 an hour plus benefits. Well in 2008 one cannot expect to make that much running a paper making machine. But real wages are possible as Toyota builds in SA, GM adds a plant near here, and the entire auto manufacturing industry has moved to Carolina, MS, and Albama. Yes the US can be competitive but not at non competitive wage rates.

Texas is booming Laredo is booming as an inland port, similar claims are made for Dallas but it is already. Houston and Dallas both boast bustling airports and Houston has the water port as well. The widening of the Panama Canal will only increase deliveries there and here.  Last night Sixty Minutes spotlighted Ohio, but they only told part of the story. Ohio needs to address its problems.

As an accounting major one needs to see the big picture. Locating a plant is a complex decision, but as this article points out, perhaps not when Ohio and Texas are the choices.