Obama’s Broken Window Company — And His Larger, More Serious Damage
Readers who detect a disturbing echo from the past in the next several paragraphs aren’t imagining things.
On February 23, a California-based company which owns a window manufacturing plant in Chicago announced that it would close the facility because of poor business conditions, specifically citing “ongoing economic challenges in construction and building products, collapse in demand for window products, difficulty in obtaining favorable lease terms, high leasing and utility costs and taxes, and a range of other factors.”
The very next day, the company, Serious Energy, Inc., went all Orwell:
Members of the press received incomplete and incorrect information that Serious Energy would be closing the facility immediately. The Chicago plant remains open at this time, and the parties are working together to find a new owner if possible and explore all other options. Both UE and Serious Energy apologize for any resulting confusion.
“UE” is United Electrical Workers Union Local 1110. Serious Energy made no mention of what drove the change which it said wasn’t a change but really was, namely that shortly after its original announcement, “about 65 people, mostly employees, locked themselves inside the 268,000-square-foot facility.” In other words, the union and its workers re-occupied the plant.
That’s right, they “re-occupied” it. The plant’s original occupation, in many respects the precursor of the lawless Occupy movement which “somehow” appeared in September of last year, came in December 2008. That’s when its then-owner, Republic Windows and Doors, having lost $10 million in the past two years, told employees that it would close the plant in three days. Workers “occupied the building,” and said they wouldn’t leave “without assurances they’ll receive severance and vacation pay.”
Bank of America, which had cut off the company’s credit line because of its deteriorating financial condition, was unfortunately but understandably intimidated by the assemblage of politicians, activists, and leftist rabble which had gravitated to what they thought might be the start of a movement. As a result, six days later, it made “an additional loan” (the bank’s words) of $1.35 million to make the problem go away. For some reason, J.P. Morgan Chase also “pledged” $400,000.
The Associated Press’s headline called this result “successful.” In reality, it may be the most costly $1.75 million shakedown ever conducted — if not for the workers, certainly for their nation.
Here’s a synopsis of the plant’s subsequent history:
- In mid-December 2008, Republic filed for bankruptcy.
- Serious Energy bought the plant in February 2009.
- In a March 2009 press release followed by an April visit, Vice President Joe Biden declared that the administration’s stimulus plan would “increase demand for its products.”
- The $5 billion “weatherization” element of the stimulus plan which was supposedly going to keep the plant and other window makers going was “initially delayed for seven months while the federal Department of Labor determined prevailing wage standards for the industry.” Since then, like Solyndra and so many of Team Obama’s other “green energy” efforts, it has been an epic fail, accurately characterized as a “a complete cesspool of waste” by the conservative fiscal watchdog group Citizens Against Government Waste.
- Despite the glowing promises, the union now says the company “never hired back more than 75″ of the plant’s workers.
- Serious hasn’t promised to keep the Chicago facility open, but has instead said it will spend 90 days from the date of its announcement trying to find a buyer — and presumably installing really strong locks on its doors and gates.
That’s not all. On February 22, the day before Serious’s original closing announcement, the Federal Trade Commission trumpeted consent agreements it had obtained from five window manufacturers relating to their claims that consumers could cut their home energy bills by 40% to 50% with replacement windows alone (it’s really more like 7% to 15%, according to Consumer Reports). One of the five? You guessed it. It seems quite likely that these companies’ exaggerated claims were used as a basis for estimating how much energy savings the government’s weatherization program would achieve. “Seriously,” you can’t make this stuff up.
“My response to the administration’s tired propaganda claim that the national economic situation was sooooo much worse than they thought when they first took office is as follows: Even if that’s true, it’s because your guy made it that way.”
Pity the mainstream media never says that. Ever. Even though there is so much evidence no to back it up. But there may be “little green shoots” that even the mainstream media is getting sick of Obama. CBS the other day had a story that Obama has spent more money in three years than George W. Bush spent in eight and even the Washington Post is giving him a hard time with his foreign policy. You mean that the prophet from Illinois really has feet of clay? Well it’s about time somebody in the mianstream media noticed. And if the Supreme Court strikes down Obamacare, and that’s a pretty big “IF,” then what will Obama have to show for four years in office? Nothing much, except a sluggish economy and a country deeply in debt.
It gets worse.
Christina Romer said that the economy turned out to be worse than the Obama Administration had thought even in 2009, when they were working on the stimulus package.
Why should liberals give Obama a pass on that? They didn’t give Bush a pass when it turned out that the insurgency and terrorism and civil strife in Iraq turned out to be worse than Bush had originally expected.
Underestimating the magnitude of the job is a serious error for any executive.
And so is raising expectations unnecessarily. FDR and Reagan faced difficult economic problems too, but neither of them told the American people to expect quick fixes. So the public put up with a lot of difficulties on the way to eventual economic recovery.
Obama, on the other hand, had this attitude of “OK, I signed the stimulus package into law–now let’s drop that stuff and go back to what I really care about, ObamaCare and cap-and-trade.”
Pity the backwater media if ‘Mittens’ Romney gets in. Unless Tommy Bloomer an’ the Chambermaids of Commerce can turn on a dime, they won’t be approvin’ of Mr. I-Like-To-Fire pickin’ on unsatisfactory Corporations any more than of the fiend Obama trying to pick winnerly Corporations.
Happy days.
Ah, yes. Another Obama campaign worker hits the blog with his insightful dialog. Good job, comrade! Now go back to your cubicle and put another hash mark on your list of Romney bashes for this week. Maybe you will get a bonus, or even some free stuff from the Politburo. ABO2012
Well said!
more like a bonus from our “Stimulus money” to SEIU
Get off this site troll
I thought we told his mother to take his computer away from him!
you are missing the point by, of all things, looking at things rationally. That does not work with this White House. Analyzing its behavior requires giving consideration to the outlandish first, and the reasonable a distant second. To wit:
–Energy Secy Chu gives himself an A regarding gas prices because higher prices are the intended outcome.
–the only tax cut Obama can embrace is the payroll tax which, not coincidentally, funds Social Security. Truth in advertising would call it the SS Defunding Act.
–the “Arab Spring” has yielded a Muslim Brotherhood majority in Egypt and will likely produce a sharia-based govt in Libya. Anyone believing the WH did not know this would happen presumes a level of nuclear-grade incompetence.
–EVERY budget he has submitted includes more debt, more in 3+ years than W could amass in 8.
–Public lands are flush with oil and natural gas reserves, yet….. Obama is again on the stump talking alternatives.
I’m telling you, this administration requires a totally different calculus when being analyzed. Liberals, of course, think anyone who believes this is a nutjob and the media is too invested in Obama to actually think (he’s their version of too big to fail).
*shrug*
Everything he’s doing makes perfect sense to anyone who has read Marx.
It won’t take very much of this before businesses conclude that putting employees on the payroll must be avoided as long as possible, if it’s to be done at all.
That’s exactly the situation in Europe. If you hire somebody in France or Italy then it’s a job for life. So you hire temporary employees, use independent contractors, and bring in foreign workers. The government then points to your lack of hiring, the high unemployment rate, and calls you “greedy capitalists”. You have a choice of hiring “permanent” employees and bankrupting your business, thereby creating even more unemployment, or being a target for politicians who know that their policies are the reason you’re not hiring. It really is the 1% against the 99%, except the 1% are the politicians.
Some thirty years ago I worked in a town in the midwest, heading the accounting department of a company that had a large unionized plant there. Union contracts expired and were re-negotiated every three years. It was always with some trepidation that I drove past picketing union workers as I went to and from work at “contract time,” rightfully concerned that my physical well-being could be at risk. After all, I was the enemy: management.
It was standard practice to bring in an out-of-state negotiator from company headquarters several hundred miles away to re-negotiate the union contract. It was also standard practice to move anyone who had assisted in the negotiations out-of-town after contract renewal. The conventional wisdom was that the reason for the relocation was to protect the HR employee and his family from union retribution. It was a good call.
The union pressured factory workers to keep production levels low. That way more factory workers would have to be hired. Surprise, surprise. Most of those factory jobs have now been moved to Mexico and Southeast Asia. The union should have seen it coming when the company added “International” to its name around 1980.
Is there any doubt that union thuggery remains alive and well in America?
I witnessed something similiar in the summer of 1995 when the biggest employer in my rural county, a well known foreign manufacturer, had their contract negotiations with the union. The union worked the employees into a lather for about 6 weeks before the negociations started and threatened strike if the company didn’t roll over.
I had a good friend on the management team through it all and when the company’s representatives flew over and were behind closed doors they laid their offer on the table. It was more than fair, but didn’t meet all the unions demands and they rejected it. Strike fever was at a pitch as well as all the “solidarity talk” and “stick it to the company” rhetoric. Second time behind the doors the first offer remained, but the reps said if there is a strike, we are moving the whole operation to Mexico.. and they meant it. The option to strike went to the floor for a vote and at the last minute the union delegates were telling the employees to accept the offer– those voting to strike won a slight majority and they walked out for 6 weeks. My friend said at that moment, “they just voted themselves out a job.”
The company closed it’s doors several years later putting several hundred people out of work and moved to Mexico. The county never could entice another manufacturer to move, in despite many attmepts over the years, and the tax revenue collections took a huge hit. In fact, the old local site with all its buildings remain empty to this day. A colossal monument to the stupidity of the worker and his labor union.
Unionism,communism, socialism,liberalism,progressivism, You see one, you’ve seen them all. And the Department of Justice is where? Oh I forgot, There is no Justice anymore. Especially not in that department.
We still like to think that we are a free Nation, and that is, because we use the hell out of Free Speech, and that seems to be the ONLY thing, we mostly seem to be paying attention to, although that will be short lived also.
So, we’ve enjoyed Patriotism,common sense,honesty,and a sense of belonging,but that’s all history now, I do not recognize Our Country anymore.
We had a good thing going, but we voted for people, that should take care of this country,
like voting for “Dancing with the Stars”.
“Dancing With the Stars and Stripes”?
Ho-hum. Just another day in Chicagoland. Or should I say, ho-hurl?
On another note:
Mr. Blumer, you really should investigate the origins and philosohy of the Consumer Union. HINT: Friends of liberty and free markets they are not.
On a practical note, anything they say about products should be taken with a large dash of salt. What they don’t know about objective testing would fill a book – a primer on basic testing theory.
Political philosophy aside, I wouldn’t take their recommendations or trust their findings on anything.
This was a good article about the tactics being used with the goal of Government control of all of the means of production in our horribly propagandized country. Thanks to the author.
Government needs to get out of the way of the free market and it will right itself.
As an owner I would have locked the doors preventing anyone from entering, and would have waited out those Union occupiers. I’m sure that after a few days of going hungry they would have voluntarily left the premisis.
Is this the company which was featured in that Michael Moore propaganda flick “Capitalism: A Love Story?”
I don’t know. I have never seen a Mickey Moore movie.
This shakedown is nothing –not even a rounding error — to the financial shakedown by Fannie and Freddie. Or the Obedience Training by the Obama Administration forcing AT&T, for one example, to stay on the leash which is held by Washington, DC.
THERE IS NO FREE MARKET ANY LONGER.
SHAKEDOWNS FROM WASHINGTON, DC ARE A ROUTINE WAY OF LIFE IN BUSINESS.
Yep.
Go back and look a the DOJ suit against Microsoft under Clinton, and then look at Gate’s pattern of political donations before the suit was filed and after it was wrapped up without doing anything.
“In hindsight, I believe that Obama’s unprecedented reaction to what had been a private business dispute marred by union and worker lawlessness played a critical and immediate role in deepening and extending the recession, and that it continues to hold back the alleged recovery.”
Precisely Mr. Blumer. I am in the business of working with small to medium sized private companies and have done so for 30 years. Every one of my clients is ‘marking time’ and several are considering either closing or selling.
From their standpoint a Government ‘run amok’ is too big of a risk to take. They can be involuntarily drawn into Mr. Obama’s inane policies and actions supported and implemented by his sel-serving cabinet and czars, the result of which will be their life’s work destroyed.
To paraphrase another socialist “We have nothing to fear…but an out of control Narcissist.”
CONSENT DECREES ARE NOTHING MORE THAN OPPRESSIVE EXTORTION. THEY ARE THE MIGHT OF THE ENTIRE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT AGAINST SINGLE INDIVIDUALS, SMALL COMPANIES OR THE MIGHTY AT&T. FEW CAN AFFORD TO GO TO COURT TO STAND UP FOR THEIR OWN RIGHTS. ORACLE, APPLE, MICROSOFT, ARE A FEW COMPANIES BEATEN TO SUBMISSION.
THE UNITED STATES CENTRAL GOVERNMENT IS TOO POWERFUL, TOO LARGE, TOO OPPRESSIVE AND NEEDS TO BE SMALLENED. (new word)
PERHAPS CONSENT DECREES AND SETTLEMENTS SHOULD BE OUTLAWED.
Microsoft was never “beaten to submission”. The original “finding” of monopolistic practices was not overturned, but the proposal to split the company was overturned on appeal due to some loose talk by the presiding judge. Then the new Bush administration elected to close out the case, settling for closer monitoring of the company’s practices. They amounted to a “slap on the wrist”.
That Microsoft doesn’t dominate our technology environment today as it did then is not due to any government action. It’s due rather to the emergence of strong competitors like Google and, most significantly, Apple.
Raymond. I have a question. If Microsoft was getting to big and powerful to pose a threat of monopoly then why do we provide and protect these outlaw unions with monopoly power and back it up with all the power the courts can wield?
Typing in ALL CAPS is rude.
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Always about the Workers, isn’t it, Fellows
America would be a great place if it wasn’t for those pesky workers always wanting more.
It would be a better place if American union workers didn’t get far more than they are worth, and most of them at your expense and mine. Real American workers will want to work for profitable enterprises. That way, they can get more by producing more. I don’t have much problem with being a worker. I have always had the courage to negotiate for my own raises and benefits and I have never hired anyone else to do that for me. That way, the bosses have to consider my value to them. Think about it, Ozzy. How much do you actually think you are worth? So, nut up and go for it. I won’t resent your efforts. I resent your implication that you have anyone to blame for the plight of workers than workers themselves.
Ozzie, the problem is not with wanting more but the methods used to get more. A gold miner has to dig to get more gold but can there be doubt he wants more gold? So does the thief.
“Wanting more” to the point where it bankrupts a company is stupid.
This is nuts. Totally crazy. America was built by the energy of individuals who believed they saw a need and knew how to fill it. We call them entrepreneurs.
If insanity like what hit the Chicago window company spreads, we will call such people suckers, if indeed there are any of them left.
I wouldn’t start a small business today. I don’t believe you can do it and not expect either the government or some union to put its hand in your pocket before the doors open.
I came up the hard way, with my wits and my sweat. I am no big success, but I got by in a free country. I took jobs that were open and did them to the best of my ability. If I got fired. I got up and found a new job.
I have to think that people in this country can recognize when they are on the wrong path, and that course correction is needed. I absolutely have to believe that, or I should move to another country to live out the 25 or so years I have left to me.
The flat tire and the broken window both need to be replaced and both take money from other projects.
A water heater replacement right now is not appreciated but it must be done. That means the money for the water heater will not buy something else that might increase employment but it will ikeep the water heater company with a customer.
Obsms seems to think he can improve our economy by breaking more windows and at the same time blocking the development of coal and oil as energy sources.
Every thing we do produces garbage but nature has a way of reusing that garbage when we work with nature. The oil patch produced a lot of pollution till we learned how to control that pollution.
I feel certain that the green energies produce a lot more pollution than we are allowed to know about.
Why has Obama been blocking our coal and oil which would favor our adversaries but not ourselves? Is it because he is a citizen of that country? This blockage has been in place a lot longer than Obama has.
Obama Changes We Can Really Believe In?
I haven’t had the pleasure of visiting the White House in decades so I can’t personally attest to all of the following details on recent alterations in America’s executive mansion but they are interesting, to say the least.
For example, has anyone noticed that our president no longer conducts his rare press conferences with the traditional trappings of American flags in the background?
Instead, a bright yellow curtain replete with what some people believe are Arabic symbols now decorates the press room, along with Obama’s trusty teleprompters, of course, without which he tends to put his foot in his mouth.
And, has anyone noticed that the decor at the White House has radically changed since the Obama clan occupied 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue?
The Oval Office is now almost devoid of the traditional display of American red, white, and blue. It has been replaced with what appears to be middle eastern wallpaper, drapes, and decor and the hallway Obama uses to talk to the press now features middle eastern-style chairs, drapes, etc.
And, has anyone noticed that Obama seems more Islamic than he seems American?
It’s understandable, actually, since his paternal heritage is Muslim, all his Kenyan relatives are Muslims, his mother married two Muslims, and he spent years of his childhood in Muslim Indonesia where he was partially educated in a Muslim madrassa and he diligently studied the Quran.
Before any White House alterations were made, surely the POTUS had extensive input from his lovely, style-conscious FLOTUS who, only a few years ago discovered she was proud of her country. She must be even more proud of her husband’s Muslim roots.
Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama must also be tickled pink that America’s White House now reflects both her tastes and her hubby’s documented Islamic affiliations even though those tastes and affiliations give rise to suspicions that the Obamas aren’t all we have been led to believe in.
Is Barack Hussein Obama a Muslim at heart? . . . (See pictures and read more at http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=18390.)