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The Consequences When Three Elements Collided
By Wolf Richter www.testosteronepit.com
Detlev Hager, a German executive of Daimler AG in the US on a business trip, was driving his rental car to the Mercedes-Benz manufacturing plant near Tuscaloosa, Alabama, when he was pulled over by a police officer. The tag on his rental car had expired. When the police officer asked to see his driver's license, he didn't have it on him. He'd forgotten it at his hotel. So he produced his German federal I.D. card, the only document required to cross borders in the 27-country European Union. It identifies his citizenship as "Deutsch." Could he prove that he was in the US legally?
Off to the hoosegow. His passport with the immigration form I-9 and airport stamp was at the hotel along with his driver’s license. Under Alabama's tough new immigration law, HB56, a police officer has to check the immigration status of traffic scofflaws (driving a vehicle with an expired tag, driving without a driver’s license). Sure, it would have been easier and cheaper to accompany the foreign gentleman to his hotel room, politely check his passport and driver’s license, apologetically write up a warning, and go on with life. But that’s not what the law had in mind. No discrimination, just because the guy had a German accent, rather than, say, a Spanish accent. Same treatment for all.
Alas, Mercedes-Benz employs 3,000 people at its plant—a big number for Tuscaloosa’s metro area of only 219,000 residents—and has plans to invest another $2 billion in the state by 2014. Its decision in 1993 to build a production plant there was partly motivated by ultra-low wages in the state. Subsequently, Honda, Hyundai, and Toyota also built assembly plants there. And about 350 automotive-related manufacturers have sprouted up around them.
The arrest of the Mercedes-Benz executive threw a pall over Alabama’s efforts to court foreign companies with tax incentives, low wages, and agreeable union laws. Already, the state’s financial reputation was bruised badly when Jefferson County declared bankruptcy on November 9.
And the new immigration law is highly controversial: parts of it—schools having to check the immigration status of students and parents, for example—have been crushed in Federal Court; other provisions are still tangled up in court. The intention of the law is to keep illegal immigrants out and reserve their jobs for Americans or legal immigrants. It’s a crowd-pleaser for the Republican base, and almost all Republican legislators voted for it. The law soon began accomplishing what it was designed to do: fearful illegal immigrants looked for greener pastures elsewhere, and incoming waves were having second thoughts.
The side effects were immediate: it put the Republican Party at loggerheads ... with itself. Its most munificent supporter, the business community, began screaming. They were losing their unlimited supply of cheap workers who were in no position to complain about anything—the ideal workforce. Business leaders griped about labor shortages—instead of raising wages and benefits to where they’d be attractive to Americans or legal immigrants. And now, to top it off, the arrest of a perfectly legal executive of one of the most prestigious companies in the world, who'd forgotten his passport and driver’s license at the hotel!
The status-quo media used the incident to fire off a broadside against HB56. And suddenly, widespread Republican flip-flopping has broken out. Their conundrum: they don't want their largest donors to turn off the spigot, but outright repeal, which would infuriate their rank and file, isn't in the cards either.
Using the hapless Detlev Hager to attack the law, however, is silly. If the law should be attacked, it should be for the right reasons. Hager was driving without driver’s license, which might have gotten him in trouble in any state—it certainly would have in Germany. And as well-traveled executive, he should have known to have his passport on him. Even Mercedes-Benz admitted as much when it commented that it would educate its people better on what documents to carry in Alabama. Which is always the easiest solution: just observe the law.
Meanwhile, the charge against Hager was dismissed after he produced his passport in municipal court, and Mercedes-Benz spokeswoman Felyicia Jerald told reporters that he'd returned to Germany. No doubt, getting arrested the American way was an experience he'll never forget. And the police officer? I can’t help but think that he was trying to make a point.
In what may be a precursor of a monumental shift, Toyota and Honda are planning to export US-made vehicles to South Korea; it's cheaper to produce cars in Alabama and ship them halfway around the world than it is to produce them in Japan. But to what banana-republic levels will the dollar and real wages have to sink before US manufacturing is competitive with China? The Price of Hope in the Mayhem of American Manufacturing.
Wolf Richter www.testosteronepit.com
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You may not be being fucked by illegals, but low-skilled blacks are. They're plugged into the system; they pay taxes if they earn, or at least have to file, as do their employers.
Yep, that's one of the reasons that I believe, fair or not, bringing into them wholly into the system would do more good, cost less, and level the playing field.
11 million in a sea of 310 million.
Kind of like spending a dollar chasing a dime.
Enjoy that fucking shell game, fucktard.
I live in West Texas. Full of righty tighty stupid shit.
nwaaa nwaa nwaa.
Yeah, like that fucking clown Raygun deported so many illegals. And the two BushCos, they imported them in an effort to break unions and to drive down wages. They SAY they want them out but in the years they were president millions and millions entered and the Feds cut enforcement staff. They did pass reform in 2003 that promised employer punishments for hiring illegals and NOT a single goddamned one ever went to jail to this day.
There are civil and criminal penalties for hiring illegal aliens. Sec. 274A of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) and 8 U.S.C. 1324a, makes it unlawful for any person knowingly to hire, recruit or refer for a fee any alien not authorized to work. An employer that violates these laws can face penalties of:
· $250 to $2,000 fine for each unauthorized individual;
· $2,000 to $5,000 for each employee if the employer has previously been in violation; or
· $3,000 to $10,000 for each individual if the employer was subject to more than one cease and desist order.
The employer could also be fined $100 to $1,000 for each individual “paperwork” violation.
The criminal penalties for a pattern and practice violation can be up to $3,000 for each unauthorized alien, imprisonment up to six months, or both.
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There are some 30 million undocumented workers/illegal aliens in the country even if the government claims it is only about 11 million. And most are working somewhere, meaning that their employers are breaking the law with impunity. I am sure not against Latin immigrants who are here LEGALLY, but I deeply resent the government passing laws and then enforcing them selectively. That is part of what the constitution means where it says we all must have equal protection under the law. Essentially it means that the government has no business passing laws or enforcing laws it can't or will not enforce EQUALLY. That is it voids laws that are not equally enforced.
I agree. If they actually started to enforce these laws, the business community who ATTRACT these illegals by offering to hire them would scream Holy Hell. In fact, you'd be able to hear the screaming on Mars.
These illegals aren't motivated to come to the US to tour Yellowtone Park, the business community provides that attraction.
Question:
Why aren't the people collecting welfare/unemployment required to take ANY job that's available after a certain period of time? Why do we pay the unemployed/welfare people AND have an illegal problem taking low paying jobs?
Because illegals also get welfare, SS, free health care, free education for their kids and ENDLESS other benefits. I love these morons who bitch about the US being bankrupt but love all the illegals. Good luck with that reset and I have my gold fantasy. You better have a family with .308 FAL-FN's because that gangs will be showing up for your gold with AK's. Your .223 or 1911 ain't gonna cut it. F**tard Dems or open border RINOs.
That would just incentivize businesses to use them as cheapened slave labor, since they couldn't refuse it. Freedom doesn't simply exist for the businesses, it also works in the other direction as well - even if on assistance.
I think Southpark covered this already with the Last of the Meechecans.....
Repulicans are such turds.
Yeah, I prefer the party which fervently believes that the state defines what a person's rights are, and believes and acts as though they differ from person to person and group to group. Read that again and I'm sure you'll agree that's a safe foundation for life in the septic/antiseptic society where the central state controls almost everything. Please, Mr. Statist Control Freak, tell me what my rights are.
The left creates giant plantations of tax slaves and welfare slaves of all stripes, and when things go awry, they start killing people in massive numbers. The GOP is full of cowards, but at least they aren't murderous leftist demons. Yes, leftists - it is YOU who brought us fiat slavery (and all the war and suffering and enslavement it brings), and it will be YOU who brings it back if we can kill it.
Your entire mindset must be made illegal: You can think whatever you want, but advocating theft and redistribution will be treated as the organized crime racket it is. If civilization survives in the long term, it will be because the -advocacy- of statist stealing and cronyism will be illegal with penalties of death and perhaps family sterlization. Oh? You don't like the idea of being held responsible for others' mistakes, even if they're 'your brother'? Join the club.
As are the fucking Dumbocrats.
The author of this post is reaching so hard to justify his pro-illegal meme that I sincerely hope he didn't give himself a hernia.
Funny that you would say that. I'm actually against illegal immigration (for a number of reasons, including the downward pressure they put on wages). However, I'm pointing at the contradiction within the Republican Party on this issue. So if you misread my article on this issue, it's probably my fault. I should have been clearer, though my opinion on immigration is really irrelevant to the article.
Lots of people are confusing immigration with MIGRATION -- there is a difference:
http://reason.com/archives/2010/04/13/please-dont-let-obama-touch-im
http://reason.com/blog/2008/09/24/new-at-reason-mike-flynn-shikh
http://reason.com/archives/2010/05/03/immigration-isnt-the-problem
http://reason.com/archives/2010/04/22/how-immigration-crackdowns-bac
http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/2010/04/29/to-control-the-border-first-re...
Do you think that Mexican nationals, or any other Central or South American nationals, that speak the Spanish language, speak it with a "Spanish accent"?
"against illegal immigration" is not going to cut it anymore.
"for deportation" or "for balkanization" are the only options left.
How would you like to get deported, worm?
I've already been deported 4 times in my life by the encroachment of the horde. White flight isnt racism, it's an atavistic survival instinct.
You haven't been deported you're just being melodramatic. 4 times, really, maybe you should consider living in a rural area or getting a RV. Did you deport yourself to Detroit this time? White flight should be a one time thing but 4 times is an accomplishment.
What about "up a smokestack" while we're taking about zie papers?
I always liked the Algerian options to the french: Suitcase or Coffin?
Your hero,Netanyahu may have better options.
sir -
your bias is clear for all to see.
Honda seems to have no problem in a worker-friendly state, are these manufacturers that scared of not having a stranglehold over workers? The problem with those states is that the presence of RTW encourages the presence of other bad laws (of a similar nature) with other unintended consequences. That said, until those transplants figure out how to offer Detroit-sized cars that aren't underpowered & overpriced like they are now, I'll stick with manufacturers that aren't scared of making cars north of the Mason-Dixon. No, that doesn't include Ford, which decided to go all Eurotrash on their car line, but it does include General Motors and the US division of Chrysler.
when was the last time you read about a japanese auto exec in the states getting caught with this, rules don't apply to me, mentality?
Well you should, because if you are an American taxpayer YOU paid to bailout GM and Chrysler, YOU still own part of the company and they still owe YOU about 50 billion. But I am sure you just hate those damn leftist socialists, right?
So far, GM and Chrysler are doing fine by not making Eurotrash cars like Ford.
The C-Max and Transit are glorified station wagons, not a proper follow-on for the E-series van.
Throwing a turbocharger onto a Taurus and giving it a column shifter does not make it a proper Crown Victoria Police Interceptor follow-on either.
...and so on down the line at Ford.
Short of a couple of flagship cars, you're getting Eurotrash. Aside from the colossal blunders of slapping Buick badges on Opels and adding more low-end captive imports, I'm relatively happy that GM and Chrysler are maintaining US-sized and priced cars. I just wish it didnt take a bailout.
Chrysler and GM make junk and they are not "doing fine." They are still being carried by taxpayers. Chrysler powerplants are a joke and are gas guzzlers. Ford's 3.5 litre newish V6 is world class. GM also makes trash. They were getting better pre-Obama but they are union goon companies.
my dodge ram has a 3.6 liter v6 with 150k, and still runs perfect. 19 mpg average
I'll be impressed if the money ever gets paid back. No more bailouts period. All GM and Chrysler workers should be sharing their fucking pensions with those taxpayers who gave these fat fucks a bailout but then lost theirs anyway.
I still drive old diesels. Why, because we process biodiesel already.
FYI-don't buy any new diesels, the new "technology" has been to add a post-manifold injector that sprays a chemical into the exaust to crystallize the particulate matter that is filtered out later in the pipe. The both injectors and filters clog.
All this does is result in a $500 oil change every time and a 20% REDUCTION in fuel efficiency. One step forward, two steps back.
I worked with a guy who runs his Rabbit diesel on straight vegetable oil (in the summer). We worked at the Cummins plant in Wisconsin and they made the diesel exhaust system you mentioned. They said the complete exhaust system was about $30,000 (Large trucks).
I recently bought an army surplus CUCV. 30 years old and gets the same MPG as the new "ecotech" BS as the modern pickups. Burns about anything. I ask the local hipsters if they enjoy my carbon bootprint offset before givin' 'em a cloud of grease smoke.
At least the exec didn't have an Auburn sticker on the car.
He'd have ended up being made to "squeal like a pig" while banjos played in the background....
Now if they built the factory somwhere north of the Mason-Dixon line, there wouldn't be a problem.
Well if they built it in some f**ktard UAW union state then the cars would be a POS like GM and Chrysler junk. Ford probably makes sure their UAW worker goons do drink Colt 45 and smoke dope on their lunch break.
Then I suppose you don't drive any Honda made in Marysville, Ohio. They've managed to do what other companies fear doing - transplant car manufacturing in a non RTW state.
Oh, and Honda is not unionized in any shape or fashion.
I owned a Honda made in Marysville. It oveheated one day, I had flushed the radiator and maintained it well. The build quality including the interior was excellent. An electrical fan failed or something and Honda did nothing to back it up. F them.
They are not that great anymore. Hyundai is kicking Honda's arse. I am not a huge Hyun fan but their 4 cylinder Accord alternative gets insane gas mileage. If I have to choose Toyo or Honda. I would buy Honda. Niassan's appear to be popular with obama voters.
VW is now building a bigger Passat in Chattanooga, TN and it sells for about $19 K. The Americanized the look (looks like crap now) and VW's quality/reliability is not as good as Ford, Honda, Toyo, Hyundai.
Good luck in Ohio when the SHTF. You will need it.
Any six sigma QC system would take those variables into account.
LOL!!!! Well at least it would put a bunch of people behind a computer to do a whole bunch of "make-work" analysis.
It is all about were you set those tolerences and whether you know what good product is. More paper-pushing fucknuts don't.
Hey, don't knock GM and Chrysler, they still owe you money and you are an owner of this company whether you like it or not (assuming you pay any taxes in America). If not, trash away.
Oh yeah. I am gonna be made whole by Obama-GM and O-Chrysler. Trash built by union goons. Both of them should have gone through bankruptcy court.
The only reason they are even selling this crap is because of subprime auto loans. How many will keep making the payments when the car is worth $800 and they still have three years on the note?
+1
Especially on a Chrysler. Does Obama give Chrysler's too all his voters? It sure looks that way when driving around. A Chrylser is worth about $800 after you drive it off the lot. GM is only marginally better. GM was getting there before they went broke and got bailed out.
Third world fascist state bitches! Jawohl.
Third world facist police state? Oh you must mean California that liberal shithole that taxes people to death so they flee the state. These enlighted lib govt union scum then shoot Marine vets with rubber bullets in Oakland and pepper spraystudents at UC Davis.
This idiot is in a foreign country driving a car and decided to leave his license and appropriate documentation in the hotel? Really, just what the fuck does this moron think would happen to him if he was in someplace like Russia? Should we have sympathy for the German kleptocrat? Having known a few, I sure that he took a very humble attitude with the officier and was not arrogant at all. Rriiiigggghhht.
Officers only enforce the laws douchebag. The beef this German citizen has is with those bilderberg puppets who make the laws, not the officer
I can just imagine me tooling down the Munich-Salzburg autobahn with no drivers license and getting pulled over by The Polizei.
Kein problem Herr Freddy - you haben ein nice tag.
The Mereceds exec should have pulled one of these:
http://www.metacafe.com/watch/836850/porsche_vs_polizei/
Best video ever. Some arsehole must have solen a 911 Carrera in Holland. He then steals a VW Golf. If I had been the Dutch cop, I would have pepper sprayed him. If the German exec in AL had been an Auburn fan, he would have been pepper sprayed.
The other thing the Germans do is drive in the US like they are on the autobahn. You see them in Florida driving from South Florida to Disney World at light speed in some shitty little rental car or mini van. The crappy Chrysler rental is about to throw a rod as Hans goes flying past you at 100 mph.
As far as Alabama and illegals? I am sick of paying for them. Go to you local emergency room some night and try to get treatment with no insurance as an American. You have to wait at the end of the line as the illegals go first.
My guess is Pedro will show them his Bank of America credit card that is charged to the hilt and has been written off 5 times by BAC. For illegals - health care is alles frei.
Really?
Are germans forced to have some sort of identifying mark on their rental cars when they are in Florida - Or were you able to deduce this as they went flying past you in their rental mini vans?
I have spent more than enough time in Germany and Europe to know what Germans look like. Germans generally have two speeds - stop or pedal to the metal. Going 95 mph in a 65 mph zone is a tell tale sign and you can usually spot most rental cars and mini vans.
Floirda used to be one of their top tourist destinations as well.
What a load of shit! The average speed on an autobahn is lower than the average on a French autoroute (max 130km/h, which the French treat as a minimum!) ... and the French drive like blind lunatics high on acid!!
I prefer to drive around France, through Germany, than risk my life with French motorists! And when it's raining in France, I take the train.
The Italians are also crazy, but at least they try not to hit you!
[edit] Some statistics to further my points: annual road deaths/100,000 inhabitants:
Germany = 4.5
France = 6.9 (53% higher than Germany)
United States = 12.3 (173% higher than Germany - nearly 3 times as many!!!)