Posted on 03/25/2011 8:10:52 PM PDT by Islander7
SPRINGFIELD -- The chairman and CEO of Peoria-based Caterpillar Inc. is raising the specter of moving the heavy equipment maker out of Illinois.
In a letter sent March 21 to Gov. Pat Quinn, Caterpillar chief executive officer Doug Oberhelman said officials in at least four other states have approached the company about relocating since Illinois raised its income tax in January.
"I want to stay here. But as the leader of this business, I have to do what's right for Caterpillar when making decisions about where to invest," Oberhelman wrote in the letter obtained Friday by the Lee Enterprises Springfield bureau. "The direction that this state is headed in is not favorable to business and I'd like to work with you to change that."
Oberhelman said he's being actively courted to move.
(Excerpt) Read more at pantagraph.com ...
I was in Peoria during the early 80’s when there was a very long strike there. Supposedly, something like 10% of all the property in the city was near foreclosure by the end of the strike. If that company moves and the city hasn’t diversified since then, the place will dry up and blow away. And I think the company had been doing pretty well, the Chinese and other “building” countries were buying everything they could make.
It ought to be a huge wake up call for Springfield, but they will make flimsy excuses that the gullible and the ignorant will happily accept.
Thanks to the foolishness of Illinois politicians, one of the best places in the state (Peoria) is likely going to take a huge economic hit.
Caterpillar would be even better off if they moved to company HQ to Geneva,CH where they have a large office. Since way more than 50% of their business is from outside the US and even more of their profit, they would benefit enormously by becoming a Swiss company.
Caterpillar has been punished by the politicians in IL for decades for being based in a GOP strong hold. Highway construction to Peoria was rerouted..promises not kept etc.
So Cat decided years ago not to build any new production facilities in IL and began cutting UAW jobs..from a high of 29000 to now..maybe 6-7000. They have enough engineers and office staff in IL to man the factories if the UAW strikes..and all the office workers did and would again go to work to replace them.
This has been coming for years. Even having a local politician..Ray LaHood(pizza man) as Minister of Transportation..from Peoria hasn’t helped. He is a butt boy of the IL corrupt pol machine.
Didn’t Obama or one of his flunkies visit the Catepillar plant (or a Catepillar plant) and promise them aid? (Indiana?)
Lot of good it did. The people of Illinois just don’t learn, do they? Let them starve. Let Rahm Emanuel send them all a dead fish to eat.
Let the people eat Rahm Emanuel - just spit out the ballet shoes and leotard.
Let them eat Obama and Michele, my wide-waisted belle. Let them eat every Democrat and RINO in the whole state. That should keep the people well-fed until the next fiasco.
Vote like an asshole and you’ll get sandpaper TP.
LOL Been there, done that
The answer, nothing that we have heard about.
I sure would be nice to get the Boeing leadership back into Seattle, but then again, this state would need to behave.
Oh well.
Now, this is a funny post.
My thought as well.
I really hope CAT moves out of Peoria and goes to one of the 22 Right to Work states. Hell, I'd urge a lot of large companies to move out of IL — and I live here.
Let the morons in Springfield includung Governor Quinn (D), House Speaker Madigan (D), Senate President Cullerton (D), and the shadow governor from Chicago, Mayor Rahm Emanuel (D) cry and moan at the loss of their tax base and high paying JOBS.
Yes, you political hacks, businesses actually make things and provide real jobs for real people. Business aren't public sector unions that produce a shoddy product for extraordinary cost. Businesses are in business to make money and not have it stolen by a bunch of corrupt economic illiterates who have never had a real job or met a payroll in their entire lives.
I sort of remember that Boeing’s move to IL was somewhat strategic and may have been part of their d-unionization as happened with the SC & OK expansions. Maybe pretty smart move actually. I think that CAT Corp. may be a good catch for the great state of SC!
Awesome stuff...
All four states that are cited as approaching Caterpillar have Republican governors.
Coincidence? I don’t think so.
Caterpillar would be very smart to bail out of corrupt, expensive, Democrat Illinois.
For the good of the business.
Harry had a daughter in Chicago and he doted on her. He did not like the long flights between SeaTac and O’Hare to visit her. He persuaded the Boeing Board to relocate to Chicago, IL instead of Texas, even though moving to TX made more business sense for the company. So, Boeing Corporate moved to Chicago and Harry could visit with his daughter as often as he wanted without the long flights.
Harry hit mandatory retirement age at Boeing. However, Harry's hand picked CEO replacement did not work out. The Boeing Board brought Harry back as interim CEO until a permanent CEO could be found. And then Harry's ego got caught in his zipper.
Word the 67 year old CEO was playing around with a married 45 year old Boeing VP got to Mrs. Stonecipher. She was NOT amused.
Mrs. Stonecipher called her lawyers and filed for divorce asking the court for 50 percent of everything that Harry had, including his retirement and Boeing perks as CEO. Mrs. Stonecipher won.
Harry's VP paramour was fired and divorced by her husband. Harry was forced to resign as CEO, but Boeing Corporation headquarters stayed in IL.
My guess is that the CEO will make a point....relocate a portion of the plant to another state, and cut 2,000 jobs in Illinois. He’ll offer to move the 2,000 to new state...most will refuse. Thus he will have made his point to the state. Finding new jobs for the 2k who refused to move will become the problem for the state...as they go out and try to entice companies to move from other states into Illinois. It’ll be a comical advertisement which most CEOs will ask why in the world would they move?
Sure, it was strategic in the sense of moving where his girlfriend was (see #55). Bad move. Ridiculous line of logic involved in justifying the move of an airplane company (as though their corporate jets can’t fly anywhere in the country in a few hours and overseas is still overseas, especially Japan and China which became more so). The unions in WA have not been harmed in the least..
Good lesson for BOING, BOING...let old CEOs stay retired!
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