[xyst]

On the bright side, some manufacturing jobs brought state side. On the other hand, it’s in KY. These multibillion dollar deals tend to land in states with the lowest cost of living, non-educated workforce, minimal enforcement/respect of environment (dump waste into rivers), and tend to be subsidized at the state and local levels.

Apple opened up shop outside of Austin (ie, not Travis County) because of lower taxes and more incentives provided by other county. Multi Trillion dollar company by the way. Amazon has been opening up warehouses in the sticks, soaking up all of those incentives from those desperate small towns looking to giveaway the land for a couple of decades in exchange for short term gains (mayor/city council able to say, we brought X jobs to Y town!1). Yet another multibillion company taking advantage of the desperate.

What do the people get in return? Getting the opportunity to work shit hours in a non-union job. Possibly back breaking work. No investment in their future. Just cogs in the wheel which are completely fungible (broke your back? File a claim with insurance. Fuck off. Deal with it. Not our problem. Then hire the next sucker to replace you. Rinse and repeat)

[Xirgil]

Yeah, those poor towns should just remain poor, definitely don't spend a billion dollars there, that would be terrible for them.

[themaninthedark]

State environmental laws can be more restrictive than the Federal but not less, so if anyone is dumping into waterways the EPA can go after them.

Don't know of many waterways that are solely in one state so the EPA automatically has jurisdiction as well.

What is it that you are purposing? That companies don't go to states with low cost of living?

The idea that "it's KY" is bigoted. They are people, just like anyone else. We don't tolerate it when others are dismissive of people based on their race and we should not be tolerant of the attitude based on where they live either.

[nebula8804]

They should unionize. In fact UAW wants to unionize all automakers including Tesla and the ones in the south. They failed in the past but with the downward trajectory of population size, there is a great opportunity here.

Now you might say they will just leave the US and manufacture elsewhere. Well thats where tariffs come in and the UAW is a core voting block so they will have to alter any plans to move to Mexico. Higher inflation will be the result but its probably worth it long term.

[mp05]

> They should unionize

No one at these Toyota facilities has an appetite for that. The benefits package and overall lifestyle for a TMMK worker is quite nice compared to the average person in the Lexington metro and the jobs are competitive.

Perhaps ironically, when I was in school, the biggest issue was finding engineers that would accept the pay which was generally lower than guys on the floor.

[nebula8804]

Well just 20 mins ago we heard that the majority of people at the VW plant in Tennessee signed UAW cards. Now this wont guarantee a successful vote but it makes the leadership give an honest attempt so maybe times might be changing for the Toyota plants as well.

[1]:https://thehill.com/policy/transportation/4454085-uaw-says-m...

[mp05]

Volkswagen is not the same company as Toyota. For all we know, work conditions and benefits packages between the two organizations vary considerably.

[mp05]

> non-educated workforce

Sorry, but to be frank, you just don't know what you're talking about.

I did a co-op at TMMK in Georgetown, KY many moons ago and it was a short drive from Lexington where I was studying for my mech engineering degree at UK. It is a massive university with a solid engineering school, for the uninitiated. The metro also has an excellent network of technical colleges and during my various other stints over those years, I was always impressed with the quality of the workforce on the factory floors.

As someone born in the coalfields of Appalachia, I'll admit that the ignorant hillbilly stereotype has some merit, but that's two hours of interstate driving east of where this is happening and the cultures have almost nothing in common. Hill people don't really leave the hills and Lexington is quite the "big city" for where I come from, full of hifalutin Whole Foods shoppers. I think the series "Justified" does a good job of describing this phenomenon.

There is a lot more I could address about your thoughts on labor and poverty, but it's hard to move past your premise and I don't have time to write a treatise... but JD Vance did and it's pretty good.

[rpcope1]

Have you ever actually been to the Lexington metro? It's not really any of that bullshit you just wrote.

[2devnull]

Agree that often politicians sell out their people and natural resources (the rights and endowment of future citizens) for short term gain. This is a natural consequence of politicians being inherently terrible people by and large.