Posted on 03/01/2008 7:42:30 AM PST by jdm
Well of course the Bush Administration Air Force gave the bid to foreigners! Why would one want jobs here in the States?
The beauty and benefits of competition.
America keeps going downhill. Some day, we will be at war with China, and we will have to stop fighting int the middle of a skirmish, to buy bullets from them. Anytime the defense of the country is farmed out to anyplace but home, I have to ask congress WTF?
I don’t think this is a bad decision. And it may work to Boeing’s advantage vis-a-vis EADS in the end.
I also would not be surprised if President Obama cancels the contract altogether.
This is great for Mobile and the State of Alamaba.
But I HATE Airbus.
Alamaba? Where the heck is that.
A-men. Boeing is two for two right now. They need to get their act together.
bye bye boeing refueling jets
When our defense contractors realize that price points and design innovation really matter then they’ll get the business back.
The plane is going to be assembled in Alabama, but the parts will be made mainly in Europe. EADS is charging $35 million more per plane, but giving a superior product.
I suspect they are going to take a bath though. With the dollar going down, it may end up costing less than what Boeing was going to charge depending on how the contract was written.
It may be that part of the way thru this contract, EADS will find it financially advantageous to move a lot of the fabrication to the Alabama facility, rather than doing it in Europe.
It does sound as if the production of the airframe will be moved to the US for both military and commercial version..so we may be gaining in the longer run.
EADS is admitting that Eurolabor is non-competitive.
Another note..maybe Washington State and Illinois(Corp HQ of Boeing)..needs to elect more republicans to defend their interests with the next republican administration.
I wonder if this will be brought up in the election?
This is a slap in the face to the American worker...They had Jeff Sessions saying that it was a good deal because Alabama gets a plant...maybe 2000 jobs. What an idiot, this contract is worth billions. I guess they think Americans are stupid. I noticed as always the GOP (stupid party) was out there defending this decision. The Democrats were no where to be seen.
Right between Greogia and Mippississi.
Everybody knows that. ;-)
>With the dollar going down, it may end up costing less than what Boeing was going to charge
Unless the EAD bean counters are brain dead, any production and sales in foreign currency have FOMEX hedges against currency swings.
Of course the hedges would only be partial, and I suspect that the higher price per unit reflects that expense to EAD.
The bulk of the plane will be made in Europe. Only a few token jobs will be sent to Alabama.
Yeah, I suspect that they thought about the declining dollar, but I also suspect that they determination to get the contract led them to look at it from an optimistic viewpoint. They probably have some protection in the contract. They probably have some hedging protection. But most importantly, they are probably counting on their government to bail them out if they misjudged.
This just stinks. We should not reward any company that France is involved with. Remember them. The French were involved in the oil for food scheme in Iraq. Then spit in our faces when we ask them for help and they told us that there money was more important than an ally. If any total American aircraft was not good enough, they should have been told to come up with a better plane. Tax payer money should be should only be spent for American jobs.
“This is a slap in the face to the American worker...”
For which, among a multitude of other slaps, the GOP will pay in November.
Sorry in the long run the few piddly dollars going to Alabama do not offset the billions going to Europe. This is a disaster and will surely prevent John McCain from winning the presidency. Free trade has decimated the Midwest. The high tech ‘good’ jobs promised by free traders did not materialize or have been given to the H visa crowd.
One poster suggested that Illinois residents vote for more Repubs, I don’t think this will be necessary after the next election.
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