CEO shouldn’t blame Washington for his own greed
David Farr of Emerson, now there’s a guy for our youth to emulate (Emerson CEO blasts government) He’s “not going to hire any anybody in the United States. He’s “moving.” Are you moving Mr. Farr? To China or one of your “best cost countries?” I doubt it. You’ll give jobs to foreign workers but you won’t live among them. You’ll stay here in the US, safe under the protection of the very government that you decry, gladly accepting benefits that you would deny American workers because the only thing you can do to reduce costs is cut labor. You’ll (try to) grow your top line, your earnings, your cash flow, your returns to your gamblers, oh, I meant shareholders - those who will abandon you at the hint of a stumble. You and the likes of Lloyd Blankfein with your God image egos and parochial protection of your own pockets brought the financial ruin we face today. How dare you try to blame Washington for your greed.
Richard A. Killeen
St. Charles
Richard, start a competing biz of Emerson. Staff up! Let me know when you get rolling so we can all jump abord the gravy train.
Richard,
How dare you blame Mr. Farr for this over regulating anti-business government we now have! Labor wants the jobs. EPA restricts progress! Blame our Gov’t.
I love all these people that always say that if we remove all the regulations and such, everything would be rosy here. If we removed all restrictions on business, all these people saying how we should remove all of this stuff, will find out really fast the foolishness of their words, when all of the sudden, their way of life has been wiped out, because now, businesses can pay you slave wages, work you 16 hours a day, no health insurance, if you were even able to keep your job, dirty air and poisoned water, etc… If you think these business would do otherwise, you are sadly mistaken. If you owned a small business, you would probably get bought by the bigger fish, since there will be no restriction, the giants will buy all the small business, remove all the competition and then you will be in the scenario stated first. Today’s business giants are not that far off from the robber barrons of the 20th century.
Think about what you say.
And your solution is?????????????
Yes some government regulations do go overboard. But a lot of the posters on here seem to want to toss the baby out with the bathwater. If you really want to see how wonderful everything would be without any government regulation pick up “The Jungle”. Or just go to one of those third world countries where the jobs are being shipped. Many of them have conditions not very different from what we had in 1906 when Upton Sinclair wrote it.
Richard’s comments are right on the money. It is Mr. Farr and his ilk’s greed that have put this country in the economic condition it is in. Mr. Farr’s timing for letting out such comments show he is either not very smart, or just plain out of touch. — probably both.
The very workers Mr. Farr despises are the economic engine that spend money (when they have it) and allow the economy to thrive. It is a simple concept. Just don’t understand how the predictable few that always comment here, with their broken record rhetoric, just don’t get it.
Sure there are two or more sides to every issue, but the survival of this country depends on all — even those that feel entitled. Mr. Farr’s comments show he is like a spoiled child pulling all of his toys out of the sand box just because he doesn’t get his way. Those like Mr. Farr that are always on the take, are selling out on the very country that made them rich. It is cowardly. Where is his courage and drive to find a solution that works for the country. He is just taking the easiest path to profits.
Mr. Farr and those like him should pack their bags, get out, and don’t let the door hit you in the ___. Sell you products to your well paid workers there.
really - ‘Think about what you say.’
You should heed your own advice. Apparently you do not.
SoCo
I have thought, I think I like making a decent wage, and drinking clean water, and breathing clean air. I also like my high paying job. By the way, I am a senior engineer at a small firm, so I am not a union worker, however, I was a union worker for a long time before getting multiple sclerosis. I was a railroad railcar mechanic. If there weren’t regulation of that industry, we would have derailments that cause all sorts of damage to the environment and the the people living near the areas, people getting killed all the time (much more then they are now) by dangerous chemicals and equipment. So, per your thinking, let’s remove all of these regulations, so the executives of these businesses can rape the workers, the land, and get filthy rich on our backs.
What really riles me isn’t the fact that Farr thumbed his nose at Washington and ultimately the American wage earner, it’s that he did this on Veterans Day. On a day that honors our servicemen and woman who protect this country, Farr reminds us that corporations, unlike our honored veterans, have no obligation to do anything for this country. No argument there, but he might have chosen another day to do this.
mogoid,
No, You have it backwards. Washington has thumbed its nose at American business. A classic difference in philosophy; one sect thinks govt serves at the pleasure of the people (correct) and another thinks people are to serve at the pleasure of the gov’t (incorrect)