Trade talk in Michigan

A quick primer on Michigan’s economy: we have lost 400,000 manufacturing jobs this year. The governor also talks about a refrigerator manufacturer that recently left the state: despite offering many incentives they still said they’re going to Mexico because they can make more profit there. this man also says in his community of 70,000, many stores are boarded up. This year, Ford is closing their doors at their local factory. He doesn’t blame Ford for what’s happened to his community, he blames Washington. He says if a company doesn’t want to screw their workers, they’ll go out of business. Both presidential candidates are trying to convince Michigan voters they’ll bring jobs back to the state. A recent poll shows Obama has widened his lead in the state, but this analyst says neither candidate can turn back the forces of globalization. At the Michigan State capitol, the governor is trying to help the state take advantage of globalization. She offers foreign companies tax incentives for locating in Michigan and she plays up other benefits. This German company recently invested in Troy, Michigan and the company CEO has been happy locating here. it also helped this engineer get a job in his home state, whereas he had looked for jobs internationally beforehand.