I’m more excited than Paul Krugman at the approach of a massive hurricane. I’m getting a tingle up my leg. Obama is coming to my area tomorrow to give a speech at a local manufacturing plant. The Rodon Group has been manufacturing plastic goods in Hatfield since 1956. It is the classic story of a small business succeeding versus cheap Chinese competition because of their high quality and service. They provide this chart to show how they beat the Chinese:
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This is the company that makes the kids toys Kinex and Tinkertoys. They employ 170 people and have revenues of about $100 million. Against all odds they have survived the onslaught of cheap Chinese labor. It’s ironic that Obama, the tinkertoy president, would visit this facility during his tax the rich fiscal cliff tour. This is a privately held company. The Glickman family owners are probably wealthy. Obama’s plan to save America will surely take more of their money. Money that will not be reinvested in the business. They didn’t build that.
Here is a small well run business that is about to see their taxes go up significantly. At the same time, Obamacare mandates will drive their healthcare costs higher. Meanwhile, Obama’s economic policies continue to result in declining household income. This sure sounds like a toxic mixture for a small business with a small profit margin.
Since this is a private company, I don’t know what their financials look like. Based on the facts that I do know, I would expect to see an announcement of layoffs and/or the closing of this business in the next two years. Obama just has a knack for visiting companies that go bankrupt shortly thereafter (aka Solyndra).
Maybe the Secret Service will stop by my house while they’re in town to deliver my Christmas present – some Columbian hookers.
President Barack Obama to visit K’NEX in Hatfield Friday
KEN THOMAS Associated Press
Tuesday, November 27,2012
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama plans to make a public case this week for his strategy for dealing with the looming fiscal cliff, traveling to the Philadelphia suburbs Friday as he pressures Republicans to allow tax increases on the wealthy while extending tax cuts for families earning $250,000 or less.
The White House said Tuesday that the president intends to hold a series of events to build support for his approach to avoid across-the-board tax increases and steep spending cuts in defense and domestic programs. Obama will meet with small business owners at the White House on Tuesday and with middle-class families on Wednesday.
The president’s visit to K’NEX,a small business in Hatfield that makes parts for a construction toy company will cap a week of public outreach as the White House and congressional leaders negotiate a way to avoid the tax increases and spending cuts scheduled to take effect Jan. 1. The trip will mark Obama’s first public event outside the nation’s capital since winning re-election.
Both sides warn the so-called “fiscal cliff” could harm the nation’s economic recovery, but an agreement still appears far from assured. The White House and congressional Republicans have differed on whether to raise revenue through higher tax rates or by closing tax loopholes and deductions.
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, has pushed for raising additional revenue through the reducing of tax loopholes instead of raising tax rates on wealthy Americans. The White House has countered that the president will not sign legislation that extends current tax rates for the top 2 percent of income earners, or those households with incomes over $250,000.
Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey, a conservative Republican who opposes Obama’s plan to increase taxes on the wealthy, said that while a presidential visit to his state “is always welcome,” he remains staunchly against Obama’s strategy for avoiding the fiscal cliff crunch.
“The president seems absolutely determined to inflict a tax increase on the American people,” Toomey told CNN on Tuesday. He said Obama and congressional Democrats must come up with cuts in entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare.
Obama, only weeks after winning re-election, has signaled his intention to rally the public to pressure Congress to support his agenda, an approach that helped him win passage of a payroll tax cut extension and prevented interest rates on millions of federal student loans from doubling last summer.
Obama campaign manager Jim Messina said in an email to supporters after the election that the president’s volunteer base was crucial to his re-election but said it was not aimed “just to win a campaign. We have more progress to make, and there’s only one way to do it: together.”
Following the election, Obama aides asked supporters to record YouTube videos discussing the need to have the wealthiest Americans pay more in taxes. Some of the people who shared their stories on YouTube planned to join Obama at the White House on Wednesday.
On Friday, Obama will tour and deliver remarks at The Rodon Group manufacturing facility in Hatfield, Pa., offering the company up as an example of a business that depends on middle-class consumers during the holiday season. The company manufactures parts for K’NEX Brands, a construction toy company whose products include Tinkertoy, K’NEX Building Sets and Angry Birds Building Sets.
Congressional Republicans, led by Boehner, have expressed openness to discussing additional revenue but oppose any plan that raises tax rates on the wealthy. They argue that the higher rates would also hurt some small businesses and hinder economic growth.
Republicans have called for changes to the tax code to eliminate tax breaks and loopholes that primarily benefit the wealthy. Several key Republican lawmakers have also said they would not be bound by a no-tax-increase pledge that they have adhered to in the past.
Boehner and GOP leaders planned to meet Wednesday with members of a bipartisan coalition of former members of Congress and business leaders that has advocated cuts in spending in major health care programs as well as changes in the tax code to raise more money but also to lower rates.
Eddie says:
I’m surprised they’d let him use them for a sound bite and a photo op. Maybe they’re so filthy rich they can afford to be Democrats…
Or maybe they think the TV spot will be good for Christmas sales.
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29th November 2012 at 12:51 pm
AWD says:
Why would these people let that idiot Obama visit their factory? He’s doing everything in his power to wipe them off the map and/or send their production overseas. Maybe he’s just visiting businesses he’ll soon be nationalizing.
He was just warming people up to the concept of nationalization/centralization of business with his “you didn’t build that” comment. Four years from now, tinkertoys will either be made in China, or one of Obama’s cronies will be running it for the socialist government.
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29th November 2012 at 1:09 pm
Stucky says:
So, Obaniggah is going to visit the Rodon Group and sing their praises. Yikes!!
This can only mean the tinkertoy company will be dead, gone, kaput in a few months. Praises from Obama is like looking at Methusala …. death breathing down your neck. Solyndra, anyone?
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29th November 2012 at 1:10 pm
Appalachian Trail Deblazer says:
@ Stucky,
Did you not mean looking at Medusa? A greek goddess who would turn a person into physical stone if gazzed upon.
I thought Methusala was just a really, really old guy in the Old Testament, that could have a similar effect on really, really old women.
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29th November 2012 at 2:46 pm
Stucky says:
Appalachian Trail Deblazer
Yes, I meant Medusa.
Thank you for pointing out and bring to the attention of millions, that I am a dumbass. Much appreciated. Really.
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29th November 2012 at 3:12 pm
Llpoh says:
If they own the brands Kinex and TinkerToys it would be very advantageous.
I do not know their financials either. The chart says how they beat the Chinese on price. That is Bullshit – they do not beat them on price. Everything in the chart relates to quality and service – that is where they beat them if anywhere. Nothing they mention gives them a price advantage.
Simple fact is you cannot beat the Chinese on price unless transport costs are high. Or unless there is tariff protection. But you can beat them on quality and service,which is still a valuable commodity. And it sounds like this company provides those two things.
I could run the numbers based on the facts above,but will not waste my time. If they do not own the brands, they are in trouble sooner rather than later. If they own the brands, they will be forced to make a decision sooner or later re outsourcing.
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29th November 2012 at 5:01 pm
Appalachian Trail Deblazer says:
@ Stucky,
I think even Jesus may have had brain farts. Half of his DNA was human, which is in itself is failable.
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29th November 2012 at 7:01 pm