Criticism of the Carrier Deal

During a June 2016 town hall meeting President Obama told a Carrier employee there was nothing that could be done about the trend of jobs leaving America.  He explained, “What we have to do is to make sure that folks are trained for the jobs that are coming in now because some of those jobs of the past are just not going to come back.” He then took the opportunity to criticize Donald Trump who claimed he would prevent jobs from leaving.  Obama proclaimed, “ … when somebody says, like the person you just mentioned who I’m not going to advertise for, that he’s going to bring all these jobs back, well how exactly are you going to do that? What are you going to do?  There’s — there’s no answer to it.  He just says, ‘Well, I’m going to negotiate a better deal.’ Well, how — what — how exactly are you going to negotiate that? What magic wand do you have? And usually, the answer is he doesn’t have an answer.”

Progressives are scrambling to discredit the Carrier negotiations.  MSNBC refers to them as “Trump’s alleged triumph.”  They stress that Carrier “still plans to move 600 jobs from the Carrier plant to Mexico,” plus another 700 jobs when they close a separate plant in Huntington, Ind.  They complain about the $7 million in financial incentives.  MSNBC described this as “a ton of taxpayer money.”  They worry about the “moral hazard” of “paying off companies that threaten to ship jobs out of the country.”  They are consulting academics.  Robert Reich has given Trump a C- or a D for his deal.  This is an improvement over Reich’s July 2015 evaluation, “ Well I’d kick him out of the class.  He’s a class clown.  We don’t need him.”

When complaining about the $7 million in financial incentives over a ten year period they conveniently forget about the $535 million federal loan guarantee given to Solyndra.  There is no mention of what the current president has done to save these jobs.  They do not have one positive thing to say about saving these jobs.  For these Carrier employees and workers who may believe that they might be in a similar situation in the future, the liberal media’s evaluation is not helpful.  This may be one reason that they are losing in the ratings.

Donald Trump is talking about creating a business friendly environment.  This is far different than what David Farr, chairman and CEO of Emerson Electric Co., calls a government “doing everything possible to destroy jobs."  Bloomberg reported that Farr commented that companies will continue adding jobs in China and India because they are "places where people want the products and where the governments welcome you to actually do something. I am not going to hire anybody in the United States. I'm moving. They are doing everything possible to destroy jobs."  Farr would be more than happy to remain in the U.S.  However, in order to do business he needs a business friendly environment.  Of course this type of environment does not provide the free benefits (health care, education, etc.) that people receive in places like Cuba and North Korea.

Donald Trump’s negotiations with Carrier have humiliated Obama and his sycophants.  There is no certainty that Trump’s policies will continue to be successful.  However, if they are, the United States should prepare for a Wirtschaftswunder of over 4% annual growth.  Reich calls this “wishful thinking.”  Lower taxes, deregulation and import taxes quite possibly will lead to an economic explosion.  If this happens the humiliation of Obama and academics like Robert Reich will be complete.  Trump can then give a speech where he declares. “I have a pen.  I have a phone, and I have a magic wand.”