I went to Master Lock’s web site this morning to follow up on a statement about “insourcing” made by President Obama last night in his State of the Union speech (transcript; idea HT to a frequent emailer):
A few weeks ago, the CEO of Master Lock told me that it now makes business sense for him to bring jobs back home. Today, for the first time in fifteen years, Master Lock’s unionized plant in Milwaukee is running at full capacity.
So we have a huge opportunity, at this moment, to bring manufacturing back. But we have to seize it. Tonight, my message to business leaders is simple: Ask yourselves what you can do to bring jobs back to your country, and your country will do everything we can to help you succeed.
Master Lock proudly trumpeted Obama’s highlight of the company in a press release last night (bolds are mine):
President Obama highlighted Master Lock in his State of the Union address Tuesday night for moving jobs back to the U.S. from China. Since mid-2010, Master Lock has brought back approximately 100 union jobs to its Milwaukee factory.
“We are honored to be mentioned by the President in such a traditional and time-honored event as the State of the Union address,” said John Heppner, president and chief executive officer, Master Lock Co. “As an American manufacturing company in business for approximately 90 years, we are proud to participate in the trend of “insourcing‟ jobs back to the U.S.”
… The company’s 16,000 associates generated more than $3.2 billion in net sales in 2010. FBHS is part of the S&P MidCap 400 Index.
It is indeed nice that Master Lock has brought back some jobs. But even accounting for the fact that Obama would never mention a nonunion company bringing back more of them … This is the best example they could find? You guys call this a “trend”? Really, at about 0.6% of the company’s worldwide employment, the “approximately 100″ jobs brought back are not significant to Master Lock itself, let alone the entire USA.
As to Obama’s promise to “do everything we can to help you succeed,” please. Just for starters, as seen in the Keystone Pipeline debacle, he has no interest in ensuring the reliable availability of energy, and his EPA continues to run amok. Hollow words.