Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I don't know exactly what did or didn't make them competitive to stay here, but there are things we can do to get companies to come in even faster. Even though schools in the area are overall better than state average, we need to work much harder to bring them up and the states up overall. We also need to invest in fixing our bridges and roads and diversifying our transportation.
Welch-Allyn, long-time maker of otoscopes and other medical devices in upstate NY just announced that it will lay off 10% of its workforce due to the excise tax increase being imposed to help pay for Obamacare. When you're competing in a world-wide market, you really don't need extra taxes eroding your profit structure. I think this is the tip of the iceberg of hidden costs in that 2500+ pages of legislation.
Welch-Allyn, long-time maker of otoscopes and other medical devices in upstate NY just announced that it will lay off 10% of its workforce due to the excise tax increase being imposed to help pay for Obamacare.
A 2.3% tax requires that they lay of 10% of the workforce? Sounds to me like it's easier to point the fingers at someone else as an excuse for the layoffs than to admit that part of their strategy is no longer competitive. Also, the tax does not begin until 2014, so why lay off everyone now?
“After lengthy and careful consideration, we determined the best way to remain competitive and ensure the Company’s future success was to transfer the products manufactured in Seneca to a Covidien manufacturing facility in Costa Rica,” the company said in a news release Wednesday.
There are really no other alternatives than to move the entire operation to another country? No restructuring? No layoffs? No reduction in product line? I can't even imagine how great the savings must be to justify that type of decision, and to outsiders, these moves just look greedy. Business is business, I guess.
OSHA
Workmen's Comp
40 hr work week over 40 = OT
Benefit Packages (vacations, sick days)
Taxes
Obamacare (employers can opt to pay penalty of $2,000.00 per employee and employee purchase their own ins.)
Costa Rica Minimum Wage $3.00 (International Currency)
A 2.3% tax requires that they lay of 10% of the workforce? Sounds to me like it's easier to point the fingers at someone else as an excuse for the layoffs than to admit that part of their strategy is no longer competitive. Also, the tax does not begin until 2014, so why lay off everyone now?
Place I work for supplies some stuff for the orthopaedics companies centered around Warsaw, IN, and around Ft. Wayne. They're not happy with the tax, either, plus in the summer of 2010 the first ObamasCare regs added to the FDA's regulation regimen started to kick in, adding 10% to their overhead.
It's the cumulative effect of the little taxes, plus some of those new (ridiculous) FDA regs which are hurting some companies. Bottom line though is added costs of some procedures will be passed on directly to the consumer.
I used to work in the pharma industry. Company I worked for was moving production to Ireland because they pay virtually no tax on any manufacturing done there. One of the VPs came to our plant and said if wages at our plant were ZERO, it would still be cheaper to manufacture in Ireland.
Corporate taxes and expensive, onerous regulations are shipping good jobs overseas everyday. Most folks cannot realize that getting rid of the corporate income tax would be good for the country. They just want to tax the "evil" money making companies and then wonder why unemployment is high and those same companies manufacture all their products overseas.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Wow: 
Of course the work is being transferred to another country.
