Transcribed from an address to the Greater Dallas Chamber of Commerce by State Sen. Farley M. “Boots” Farnsworth, (R-DiPindaharta TX) Farnsworth is chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee.
How y’all doin’ tonight?
(crowd cheers)
I’m so glad y’all IN-vited me here to talk about the arrival of Toyota American Headquarters. Governor Perry and I worked long and hard to bring these folks here, but be assured…
(pause)
...this means plenty o’ jobs for TEXANS!
(crowd cheers “Boots! Boots! Boots! Boots!”)
They just got sick of all them California taxes! They know Texas is the future.
(crowd cheers “Boots! Boots! Boots! Boots!”)
We know how to treat business here in Texas!
(crowd cheers “Boots! Boots! Boots! Boots!”)
We don’t need no stinkin’ unions.
We don’t need no stinking personal income tax.
We don’t need no stinkin pollution laws.
(crowd cheers “Boots! Boots! Boots! Boots!”)
-----------
So continues America’s industrial Great March South.
Furniture makers, banks, auto companies, clothing makers. All originally from the west or the Midwest or the Northeast making their way to the so-called business friendliness of Texas, Alabama, the Carolinas, Georgia, and on and on.
Well, it’s still America.
Yes, but.
We don’t yet know how many of the actual human Californians will make the one way trip and become actual human Texans. Toyota’s move is mostly middle managers, not production workers.
The company’s US headquarters has been in California since 1957, when it was hardly a blip on the automotive radar.
Its reasons for moving are gibberish. And probably lies. “Oh, the tax thing… that’s not the main reason we’re moving,” they say. “It’s a more central location.”
Nonsense. They were bribed with “tax incentives” that will reduce their operating costs and likely increase their profits.
You as a car buyer will see no difference.
US operations for Nissan and Volkswagen are headquartered in Tennessee. BMW is in South Carolina. Benz and Hyundai are in Alabama. Kia is in Georgia.
And American car companies have plenty of factories in the south, too, though all their headquarters are in greater Detroit.
So should we care about these locations? Yes, for a few reasons:
--California may be a huge state, but 3,000 lost jobs are 3,000 lost jobs.
--With what’s left of the industrial output moving into the south, the northern states are going to find themselves in the same position as the Confederacy before the Civil War: destitute and resource poor.
--The midwest and northeast earned their industry by supporting it and building it. The south is just stealing and bribing.
--With all this to brag about, the Confederate States bad-will ambassador to the rest of us, Rick Perry, is likely to be nominated Republican candidate for president and stands a chance, this time, of winning.
Shrapnel:
--Here we go again. Kerry is telling the countries of Africa they have to be better democracies. Isn’t that how we started in Iraq?
--Oh, speaking of Secretaries of state and pushing for democracy in places that find it strange, Condoleezza Rice has backed out of giving the commencement address at Rutgers because too many students objected and not quietly. The schools president had harrumphed about academic free speech and ideas in defending the choice. But Rice still said “no dice.”
I’m Wes Richards. My opinions are my own but you’re welcome to them. ®
Please address comments to wesrichards@gmail.com
© WJR 2014
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