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This is not #winning

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Mitsubishi Motors said Thursday it would close its sole production plant in the United States as the Japanese automaker cuts losses on dwindling sales in North America and a strong U.S. dollar, which has stymied returns.

Mitsubishi Motors confirmed a report in Japan’s Nikkei newspaper on Thursday, which said that the automaker was unable to find a buyer for its factory in Normal and take on its workers.

“We have given up looking for an automaker to buy the plant, but we are looking for possible buyers from other industries,” a Mitsubishi Motors spokesman said.

Look, it was a longshot from the beginning. We’re not a “right to work” state, which is so in vogue with manufacturers these days. And we have plenty of other problems that we all know about.

But we didn’t really see a huge push on this topic at the top. Maybe lots of stuff was going on behind the scenes. I don’t know. I’m just bummed that nothing has been done.

posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Jan 7, 16 @ 3:29 pm

Comments

Nevada just offered some smart incentives for a new electric car maker surprised the SuperStars did not really compete….hmmm

Comment by Anonin' Thursday, Jan 7, 16 @ 3:34 pm
I have my stuff made in Minnesota . But my existing customer base was small so a factory no longer made sense. We used to have 250 employees. But its not just that plant lots have been closing. Trump keeps mentioning Nabisco to Mexico. Even China is closing lots of plants except the ones that export cheap stuff to us

Comment by Illinois Manufacturer Thursday, Jan 7, 16 @ 3:39 pm
Sluggish sales in the US, not an illinois problem.
http://www.businessinsider.com/afp-mitsubishi-to-end-us-vehicle-production-2015-7

Comment by NoGifts Thursday, Jan 7, 16 @ 3:40 pm
Kind of brings to mind the wicked witch’s statement in the wizard of Oz- I’m Shrinking, I’m Shrinking” as far as our economic manufacturing base. If the plant had been in GA or some other Red state- the buyers would be lining up

Comment by Sue Thursday, Jan 7, 16 @ 3:50 pm
=== We’re not a “right to work” state ===

Irrelevant.

Moot.

Talking point.

Mitsubishi’s 41,000 auto workers in Japan are all unionized.

And despite what many assume, Japan’s labor laws tend to be so generous, most Republicans would explode.

For example, when it comes to worker’s compensation, Japan has ruled that a surviving family can claim work comp benefits if an employee commits suicide — outside of work hours — as long as the suicide can be related back to workplace related stressers.

No, I think Team Rauner wanted Mitsubishi to leave.

Why?

Bad news is proof that we have top pass the Turn Around Agenda.

Want further proof?

Look at the lack of “good News” coming from DCEO.

Most governors love to brag about every deal, every job saved or created.

Check out the press releases from DCEO this year:

http://www.illinois.gov/dceo/Media/PressReleases/Pages/PressReleasesByYear.aspx?ArticleYear=2015

Only five news releases in the entire year, and not a single “jobs” announcement.

I hope they aren’t paying that press staffer a full time salary.

Comment by Juvenal Thursday, Jan 7, 16 @ 3:56 pm
This is the fault of Speaker Madigan and the Japanese car manufacturers he controls.

Comment by Dee Lay Thursday, Jan 7, 16 @ 3:59 pm
Careful Sue, you’re going to stir up the ‘we don’t want no stinking right to work jobs in this state’ crowd.

Comment by CapnCrunch Thursday, Jan 7, 16 @ 4:01 pm
Ironically enough, while Mitsubishi lagged the rest of the market soared.

http://www.freep.com/story/money/cars/chrysler/2016/01/05/fca-sales-rose-13-2015-record-year-autos/78268882/

Comment by Team Sleep Thursday, Jan 7, 16 @ 4:02 pm
DCEO hasn’t been offering good news outside of Chicago for years. For years, DCEO and the State have failed to compete with our neighbors. Illinois has relied on being Illinois. We have Chicago, we must be better. Meanwhile, other State’s DCEO equivalents have been kicking our tails and actually paying attention to their states as a whole. Iowa doesn’t put all its chips in Des Moines like we do with Chicago. “Because Chicago,” is not a viable economic development strategy for the State as a whole.

Comment by Shemp Thursday, Jan 7, 16 @ 4:08 pm
This sticks in my craw. We have an already made facility and we can’t get someone to use it?

What about all these tech companies partnering with the car companies to make self-driving cars? Do we have any shot at that or will it all go to Michigan?

Comment by Flannery Fan Thursday, Jan 7, 16 @ 4:14 pm
=If the plant had been in GA or some other Red state- the buyers would be lining up=

Uh- Because the US dollar is so much weaker in GA?

Comment by Qui Tam Thursday, Jan 7, 16 @ 4:18 pm
I feel bad for the town and the employees, but at least it makes for more leverage.

Comment by Earnest Thursday, Jan 7, 16 @ 4:20 pm
== DCEO hasn’t been offering good news outside of Chicago for years. ===

LOL

Governor Quinn Announces Cronus Has Chosen Illinois for New $1.4 Billion Fertilizer Plant

Major Expansion Project to Create Thousands of Jobs in Central Illinois

TUSCOLA, Ill.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Governor Pat Quinn today was joined by company officials to announce that Cronus Fertilizers, a much-anticipated $1.4 billion fertilizer plant, will be built in Tuscola. Following a search process that included 76 sites in nine states, Cronus has chosen Illinois to expand their business with a new facility that will create approximately 2,000 construction jobs and 175 permanent jobs. The Cronus fertilizer plant is one of the largest private investments in central Illinois since 1988, when Mitsubishi Motors North America opened its auto factory in Normal. Today’s announcement is part of Governor Quinn’s agenda to create jobs and drive Illinois’ economy forward.

Shemp, go back to the Raunerbot factory and get your Talking Point chip upgraded. It’s been recalled.

Comment by Juvenal Thursday, Jan 7, 16 @ 4:31 pm
you can use whatever excuse you want for this but it sucks. Blame the Governor and his superstars for not doing enough. Blame the economy. Claim right to work had nothing to do with it.

FACT. More manufacturing is gone. The great slide of Illinois into the abyss continues and it appears that not many on this board can admit we are losing as a state. Losing jobs and losing people and that will only make whatever chance we have to recover that much harder. We are stuck in the rut of continuing to do things because that’s how we’ve always done it mentality. We are stuck in 1984 as a state. Try running a business here. Union or nonunion are shops get harder to run every day!

What’s it gonna take for some to figure out that as a state we are screwed? We gotta change our ways. That’s hard and will tick some people off but man does it get harder and harder to justify staying here each day.

Rant over.

Comment by Anon2U Thursday, Jan 7, 16 @ 4:41 pm
Now the Mondelez factory is shutting down in Schiller Park and moving to Indiana!

http://www.chicagobusiness.com/article/20160107/NEWS07/160109879/mondelez-unit-to-shut-local-factory-move-operation-to-indiana?utm_source=Twitter&utm_medium=Social&utm_campaign=SocialFlow

Comment by Flannery Fan Thursday, Jan 7, 16 @ 4:58 pm
No, it’s not winning. But that’s not a revelation to most. Rather it’s the norm.

Comment by Georg Sande Thursday, Jan 7, 16 @ 5:06 pm
Check out the local news on wglt.org (ISU’s public radio station). Look for a news item where the mayor of Normal is quite irked with Barrickman. The B-man was also on Sound Ideas on that station earlier this week sounding like a mini Rauner- doom and gloom all the days.

Comment by Anon221 Thursday, Jan 7, 16 @ 5:13 pm
The governor did all he could.
He travelled by camel to the depths of the Sahara trying to find a buyer.
Did you?

Comment by Michelle Flaherty Thursday, Jan 7, 16 @ 5:15 pm
Anon 2U:

We are reaping what we sowed 15 years ago when suburban Republicans scuttled education reform legislation championed by Governor Edgar that would have helped ensure a world class education for every child regardless of zip code and your parents’ wealth.

Education is the single greatest economic development tool, and it is in demand for today’s tech-heavy manufacturing jobs. Kids entering elementary school in 1998, 1999 and 2000 should have been exiting college in 2014, 2015 and this spring to provide employers with the workers they need.

Instead, manufacturers report they have 30,000 vacancies.

Comment by Yellow Dog Democrat Thursday, Jan 7, 16 @ 5:16 pm
–But we didn’t really see a huge push on this topic at the top. Maybe lots of stuff was going on behind the scenes. –

You don’t think that The Great Salesman’s “long-term, slow death-spiral” pitch like he was pushing on Proft’s show yesterday doesn’t get potential businesses mouths-a-watering to relocate? Even with a smile and a shoeshine?

Perhaps the governor should have consulted with the United Auto Workers. They got Ford to agree to invest $1 billion and add hundreds of jobs at their Chicago-area plants as part of their contract negotiations.

Landing a new plant now in Bloomington doesn’t fit with the governor’s political agenda.

And as we know from the budget sabotage, the political agenda trumps everything else, including the responsible operation of state government.

Comment by wordslinger Thursday, Jan 7, 16 @ 5:31 pm
=We are reaping what we sowed 15 years ago when suburban Republicans…=

LOL. Read far enough. Sometime comments here actually make me laugh out loud. Got news for you YDD, of the dozen or so college educated friends of mine that went to the IL state school I went to, only 3 are still in IL. One’s a teacher, the other two have state jobs. Texas got 3 (Cat), TN got 2, MO got 2, WI got 1, IA 1, CA 1, IN got 1… all private sector tax payers in other states. No need to change a thing guys.

Comment by Robert the 1st Thursday, Jan 7, 16 @ 5:35 pm
Was very nice for IL to help pay for college educations. All the states with private industry appreciate too.

Comment by Robert the 1st Thursday, Jan 7, 16 @ 5:36 pm
–Kind of brings to mind the wicked witch’s statement in the wizard of Oz- I’m Shrinking, I’m Shrinking” as far as our economic manufacturing base. If the plant had been in GA or some other Red state- the buyers would be lining up –

According to the National Association of Manufacturers:

From 2000 through 2013, Illinois manufacturing output grew by 33%, from $76B to $101B.

That remains higher than every state except for California and Texas.

For Georgia, from 2000 through 2013, manufacturing output grew by 15%, from $46B to $53B.

Illinois has 579,000 manufacturing workers making an average of $79K.

Georgia has 366,000 manufacturing workers making an average of $66K.

Sue, while you’re in Oz, you might see if the Wizard can hook you up with some things you might be needing.

http://www.nam.org/Data-and-Reports/State-Manufacturing-Data/2014-State-Manufacturing-Data/Manufacturing-Facts–Illinois/

http://www.nam.org/Data-and-Reports/State-Manufacturing-Data/2014-State-Manufacturing-Data/Manufacturing-Facts–Georgia/

Comment by wordslinger Thursday, Jan 7, 16 @ 5:49 pm
– Got news for you YDD, of the dozen or so college educated friends of mine that went to the IL state school I went to, only 3 are still in IL. One’s a teacher, the other two have state jobs. Texas got 3 (Cat), TN got 2, MO got 2, WI got 1, IA 1, CA 1, IN got 1… all private sector tax payers in other states–

That settles it. The anonymous guy with an anecdote has spoken.

Let’s base all further policy on whatever this guy says happened to him. No need to dig through any research what-so-evahhhhhhhh.

Comment by wordslinger Thursday, Jan 7, 16 @ 5:55 pm
Wordslinger the only state I clicked on there is Indiana and their output grew by more than 50% from $62bil to $95 bill from 2000-2013.

You say IL grew faster than everyone except CA and TX. Are you sure you checked all those states before blabbing about it?

Comment by Flannery Fan Thursday, Jan 7, 16 @ 6:12 pm
http://wglt.org/post/selling-mitsubishi-plant-could-depend-cheerleading#stream/0

Comment by Anon221 Thursday, Jan 7, 16 @ 6:14 pm
I wouldn’t view Mitsu’s departure as having any greater meaning. Some analysts still consider that the auto industry has too many producers. And Mitsu’s auto division just isn’t competitive in the US. What the world doesn’t need is another auto plant, so it’s not surprising some other major brand hasn’t picked up the Normal operation. Last year’s record US auto sales were probably the result of cheap money and an aging private fleet. The low likelihood of serial repeats just doesn’t provide the right incentive for a major to pick up the plant.

Comment by Cook County Commoner Thursday, Jan 7, 16 @ 6:16 pm
Flannery- look at the main chart with all the states listed and use the sort feature to see how they fall in line. Word is correct.

Comment by Anon221 Thursday, Jan 7, 16 @ 6:16 pm
Short term pain!

Comment by Precinct Captain Thursday, Jan 7, 16 @ 6:19 pm
Oh, I guess his “That” is referring to size, not growth rate. Thanks Anon221

Comment by Flannery Fan Thursday, Jan 7, 16 @ 6:19 pm
–You say IL grew faster than everyone except CA and TX. Are you sure you checked all those states before blabbing about it?–

I blabbed that Illinois manufacturing output remains higher than every state but California and Texas. Are you sure you read my post?

Comment by wordslinger Thursday, Jan 7, 16 @ 6:21 pm
“From 2000 through 2013, Illinois manufacturing output grew by 33%, from $76B to $101B.

‘That’ remains higher than every state except for California and Texas.”

I’m pretty sure your ‘That’ could refer to either output growth of 33% or total size of $101 bill.

That chart is really cool. OH, NC and IN are right on our tail in this 2013 data for total output. Wonder what’s happened since then with all the manufacturing job layoffs we’ve seen here. Are those states laying off too?

Comment by Flannery Fan Thursday, Jan 7, 16 @ 6:27 pm
FF, feel free to use the google on your own to find actual facts, not just the usual dirges from the usual suspects.

Comment by wordslinger Thursday, Jan 7, 16 @ 6:32 pm
What facts are the usual dirges from the usual suspects?

That Michigan chart is crazy. Michigan’s total output fell by 40% from 2000-2009! Even Ohio was nowhere near that bad, only down like 12% over those years.

Comment by Flannery Fan Thursday, Jan 7, 16 @ 6:40 pm
Rauner won’t touch this.

There’s more campaign money in failure than success. 3 more years of this — failures, failures — in order to get the campaign cash.

Comment by Macbeth Thursday, Jan 7, 16 @ 7:22 pm
Maybe the state should buy the Mitsubishi plant. Then the Board of Education could require high school freshman to take field trips to tour an empty manufacturing plant, a symbol of the largely unskilled, but well-paying jobs that don’t exist anymore. It could be for education what scared straight is to criminal justice.

Just spit balling here, but it’s a thought.

Comment by 47th Ward Thursday, Jan 7, 16 @ 7:49 pm
wordslinger- Read YDD’s comment. I was trying to point out that IL can (and does) invest in education but what’s the point if the educated take that investment and haul tail out. Know many recent college grads in IL that aren’t working in government/teaching? Nothing wrong with either of course, but someone has to pay for pensions, education, and services.

Comment by Robert the 1st Thursday, Jan 7, 16 @ 8:43 pm
=Let’s base all further policy on whatever this guy says happened to him=

LOL… didn’t know you and the regulars here set government policy. Although it would seem IL has taking your advice for a few decades.

And nothing “happened to me” or my college friends, we found better employment outside of IL. Private sector IL downstate is fast food and Walmart.

Last, where have you been all day? Did you get promoted to some new state job where you don’t have access to a computer? Most of you guys comment the most during your working hours.

Comment by Robert the 1st Thursday, Jan 7, 16 @ 8:57 pm
Robert, you have lots of questions.

–Know many recent college grads in IL that aren’t working in government/teaching?–

Yes. In fact, I know many recent college grads from out-of-state in the private sector. Have you ever heard of the North Side of Chicago?

–Last, where have you been all day? Did you get promoted to some new state job where you don’t have access to a computer? Most of you guys comment the most during your working hours.–

I’m in business for myself. I don’t get paid if I don’t work. So, technically, all waking hours are “business hours.” Kids like yourself will learn that after your cojones drop and you take a risk and go into business for yourself.

–Private sector IL downstate is fast food and Walmart.–

And you expect government to change that? Did you and your friends learn that command-economy commie stuff in college?

Comment by wordslinger Thursday, Jan 7, 16 @ 9:17 pm
WS

-In Chicago sure. That’s why I cited down state.

-Not my business, but I’ve read dozens (if not hundreds) of your comments. If you’re not directly employed by the state I’d wager the private business you do is law or somehow very involved in state government (or you’re on a state pension)

-Good one. I’m the one expecting the government to fix things. Not like we could just try to undo the mistakes by following the example of states around IL that didn’t have Chicago to mooch off of

Comment by Robert the 1st Thursday, Jan 7, 16 @ 9:46 pm
One of, if not the largest, private sector jobs/industries “downstate” is agriculture/agribusiness, my dear Robert.

Comment by Anon221 Thursday, Jan 7, 16 @ 9:49 pm
–If you’re not directly employed by the state I’d wager the private business you do is law or somehow very involved in state government (or you’re on a state pension)–

You lose, on all counts. I hope it wasn’t your confirmation money.

Robert, I guess I should be flattered by all your interest and attention, but I really don’t think it would work out. Young, whiny and bitter is no way to go through life, son.

Comment by wordslinger Thursday, Jan 7, 16 @ 11:06 pm
The closing of this plant has nothing to do with anything but Mitsubishi’s failure to compete in the auto industry.

Now the failure to sell it to another manufacturer is directly related to Illinois’ abysmal economic environment. Especially for manufacturers. Downtown state is being bled to death by outdated unions.

Comment by Tone Friday, Jan 8, 16 @ 7:57 am
Robert:

Sounds like the college system is working great. Education is suppose to give you choices.

Your friends from high school who didn’t go to college, how are they doing?

Now, on to all of the folks outside the subset of 12 people Robert knows:

From Crain’s: Chicago beats even Silicon Valley in Technology Job Growth

We have great infrastructure and a highly educated workforce in the Chicago metro area. Downstate, Republicans have invested only in prisons for the last 35 years.

Comment by Yellow Dog Democrat Friday, Jan 8, 16 @ 8:21 am
Kind of brings to mind the wicked witch’s statement in the wizard of Oz- I’m Shrinking, I’m Shrinking”

Yeah, she never said that. Maybe you mean “Honey I shrunk the kids”?

Comment by Miss Herd Friday, Jan 8, 16 @ 9:42 am