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Letter to the editor [Daily Record, The (Wooster, OH)](Daily Record, The (Wooster, OH) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Level 'global' playingfield first Editor: Job creation and maintenance raise the bar for importers and provides new incentives to American small business and for importers to set up shop. Politicians should level the "global" playing field and behave like the No. 1 global customer we are. I've worked in industrial sales for 40 years. My job has been to develop business and to find work for manufacturing companies. I realize we are part of a "global economy." But we are more than a "part," America "is" the top of that food chain. Two examples of "sourcing offshore" are typical of what I face working to developing business, which equals jobs. 1. Wheelchairs, related equipment, (an Ohio company with $1.7 billion in sales). The cost of the product is partially funded by Social Security for the disabled. The majority of the components are sourced offshore. 2. My largest customer, in the electronics business ($100 million- plus in annual sales), is moving manufacturing from Cleveland to China; 350 jobs gone. A market loaded with jobs (a market subsidized by tax incentives and related to "public" utilities) is the "green" movement. There needs to be a "high" percent of U.S. made content in any "green" projects (wind and solar) that are subsidized by taxpayers and projects related to public utilities regulated by PUCO. We are the most sought after global market. Why can't we demand offshore trading partners meet regulations imposed on our manufacturers: EPA regulations for air/water pollution. Cradle to grave hazardous material requirements. OSHA work place safety. Child labor regulations. Minimum wage. Enforcement of copyright, patent licensing regulations, preventing piracy. Political representatives who want the private sector to create jobs should demand a level global playing field first, instead of allowing importers to flood our market with low cost products. Low cost because importers don't have to play by the rules. Importers should prove compliance at their cost. Or they can set up shop here. Do the politicians have the courage to behave like "the customer?" Will the above raise the prices paid at big box stores? I hope so, since with more Ohio skilled jobs, there should be fewer welfare and unemployment checks. If we continue current policy, guess where money spent at box stores, with exception of mostly service related low wages, taxes and profits, will go? Most probably a portion on the aircraft carrier China is about to commission. Dennis Solomon Apple Creek (c) 2011 ProQuest Information and Learning Company; All Rights Reserved. |