When Dow Chemical Speaks, Ya'll Should Listen
Several articles have reared, but largely ignored as precursors to major shifts in the nation's industrial capacities.
First let's look at Democratic Influence and political.
A Constellation of Influencers: Behind the Curtain at Teneo by Julie Creswell and J. David Goodman
Focus on Teneo's big paying donor/customer Dow Chemical, USA. Dow/DuPont possibly will move 1700 jobs from Michigan this year. This impacts other businesses working with, from, or related to Dow/DuPont; so, the real job loss is much higher. It seems Michigan lawmakers would start screaming as losing such a tax base. Obviously they can't count. It is believed that Dow will move their headquarters to Delaware--post hoc ergo propter hoc--sharing in the tax status of DuPont who resides there already. Maybe Jeff Daniels will advertise the loss of Dow on his welcome to Michigan ads. Dow employs about 900 workers in other Michigan communities. Texas remains Dow's best tax-less State to conduct business. Plus, geographically, it's much closer to world markets through Freeport than Port Huron. Delaware offered Dow a strategic fund grant worth $9.6 million over five years and a variety of tax credits to entice the chemical company to move its headquarters. In other states, Dow continues to consolidate and trim operations. For instance July 2016, in the Pennsylvania suburbs, Dow consolidated several regional operations that it inherited from its acquisition of Rohm & Haas. This is a slow way to relocate without engendering much brouhaha from either the local press, unions, or government officials. It is called a "several-step realignment process" shielding companies from angst or commercial anxiety as they strive for leaner business outcomes. With its ties to Teneo, a heavily occupied Democratic lobby firm, Dow will not have to face much fallout for it re-consolidations or movements out of heavily owned Democratic states. Other than taxes, companies like Dow claim moving business or manufacturing out of those states or even offshore are a result of higher energy prices. The excuse is that if initiatives like the Keystone pipeline and other natural gas efforts are stymied by leftist groups or even the USG, companies like Dow are forced to shop cheaper energy elsewhere. Many manufacturing and specifically chemicals producing companies in the US depend on coal. So, it's usually something. So expect Dow to move down to Argentina, the Netherlands, and Malaysia, since POTUS has launched initiatives to move these countries closer to the US. (US Armed forces now have a base in Argentina) HRC and her Global Initiatives have received money from Argentina that ensures closer cooperation with the US in the upcoming administration. "When Germany is a more competitive platform for production than Louisiana, something is seriously out of whack," said Greg Lebedev, the American Chemistry Council's president and chief executive. "We are effectively being uninvited to maintain our plants here." "So rather than go out of business, our folks [in the industry] are going to go away. They can leave. They are already global companies," Lebedev said. Dow closures resulted in the loss of about 400 plant jobs, part of 90,000 chemical industry jobs lost in the last five years, according to the American Chemistry Council, a Washington, D.C.-based industry group.
- Matt Caldwell
