General Protecht president Wusheng Chen told local authorities today he is the subject of an investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation that may imperil his planned multi-million dollar investment in Barnesville-Lamar County.
At the very least, the project will be delayed indefinitely pending a conclusion of the FBI probe, Chen said through an interpreter. His remarks came almost two years to the day after his original project announcement.
Wusheng Chen (left) GP project manager Ned Wang and Sean Chen at the conference table during today's meeting.
When anyone who is not a citizen travels to this country, they can only stay as long as customs allows. It is no different than if one of us went to China.
While I admit that I may not be totally educated with the legalities of the FBI probe, I do believe that this industry would mean jobs for local people, which would benefit many families.
With that being said, let’s tell Mr. Chen to apply for public housing, fill out the necessary forms for an EBT card and then he might be eligible for a driver’s license. Then his presence would be beneficial to our community and country. Why, this Chen fellow has some nerve coming here trying to open a manufacturing plant and putting people to work. Shame on him!!!
Just a note to “ANON” from one of the other blogs : some of these statements should be considered sarcasm.
I guess we will have to see which way this goes.
If we can't control labor costs at the IDA, or keep known crooked real estate/Judges out of the IDA before they are arrested, how can we expect the IDA to make other good decisions?
General Protecth was already in trouble for using false UL labels on products. Anyone who would run a company in a way that marked product with a false UL safety labels needs to be looked at closely.
http://www.marketwire.com/press-release/Underwriters-Laboratories-788944.html
500 people are building circuit breakers in Chicago. The manufacturing is long established, taxes have been paid, the equipment is in place.
500 people want to build circuit breakers in a foreign country and sell them here, taking the jobs of the 500 Americans and dollars from the USA.
The foreign company finds a small community desperate for jobs because they have taken other jobs away. The community is so desperate for work they help them build a factory, don't charge taxes, and do everything they can to help them.
The foreign company builds almost all of the part in its own country, sends the almost completed part here, does a little final assembly, and calls it made in the USA. They do it all tax free.
The US workers pay all the taxes, the 500 people in Chicago are out of work because they can't compete against a tax-free government subsidized business, 450 people in the foreign country have a job, and 50 Americans go to work at the lowest paid jobs.
When the sweet deal on taxes runs out, the businesses close or move or force the local government to extend or expand the deals. This always repeats over and over...whether it is a plastics company, wood, or electronics.
This is how our trade policies, manufacturing, and industrial zones work. I know because in the mid 80's I helped an Asian owned company buy and move factories from California and Ohio to areas with industrial development programs. I helped negotiate with "IDA's" and local governments in depressed regions to pay part of employees wages, pay for training, and give us huge tax and rent advantages. Even when we had enough we would ask for more.
It is not about being friends, liking someone, or wanting to help someone. It is all about money and getting the best deal. Always.
In the USA we do that even if it means losing jobs in some other state. We are one of the few countries in the world that allows this to happen.
Tom Rauch
I don't know you, but have you ever thought about running for a local govt position. If so you'd definitely have my vote.
It also isn't a 50 million dollar investment when a person from a foreign land just signs a note and borrows money from a local bank. It is us promising free money. If they fail, the taxpayers will eventually pay the bill....not the bankrupt corporation.
The key is in people and in the community, not in pipes and wires (although the poor communications/Internet infrastructure here hurts a bit).
We are in a great position with reasonable access to Atlanta and Macon, but we seriously lack local talent for hi-tech industry. The schools, like it or not, are not desirable. Georgia is way down the list in ranking, and we are not near the top in Georgia. Where do most people with a choice send their kids to school?
This means about all we can do is have lower tech jobs unless we work on the schools and the community's attitude about education and schools. We should have worried about the schools, not stadiums but science and engineering, ten years ago. We better start now.
To get lower tech jobs we have to give something else up, like the environment or pay levels. That's just how it works. It's not up to me (or Kenny Roberts) to decide what the COMMUNITY needs. It should be an open fair discussion with all sides being open and honest.
In current form all the IDA is going to do is flounder about wasting money, because like with zoning, there is no long term planning or vision. For example why would we put an industrial park on a two lane road 8 or 10 miles from I-75 when I-75 goes right through a corner of the county? Would you want a business heavy on shipping and receiving on a two-lane road 8-10 miles from I-75 and 15 miles further from Atlanta, or would you want it next to I-75 15 miles closer to Atlanta?
My guess is we put that "industrial park" in a poor location because Barnesville already had land and infrastructure around there, and because Barnesville wanted potential tax money, not because it was a good business location for the entire community.
I wouldn't put a business heavy on shipping or receiving there. Would you? No one with any business savvy is going to put a permanent business here just because they like someone's smile.
The community needs a plan, and it can't come from one person or group of people. Especially when they have a track record of being poor judges of personal integrity.
Tom
What are we looking for? Where will we put it? What long term investement are we making? What else will it attract? What will be the long term effects both pro and con?
Who made this plan? Where is it documented?
Is this like the long term zoning "plan" we had that allowed the quarry and new landfill here? Or it a better plan?
Do tell.
Tom
How can we get a parent/parents to care? We've tried and it's not working. That's the real problem.
Is it all parents? Probably not.
Is it all misplaced priorities in education? Probably not.
Most likely it is a complicated soup of things we are doing wrong. We tax local sales to build a new stadium, are we matching it with something that will pay the community back with better educated future adults??
I heard we are eliminating things like drafting in Lamar and engineering in Pike.
How many high tech businesses locate in a community because they have a nice athletic complex in the school? How many because they can hire people with work skills?
In 30-40 years of engineering management and starting and owning businesses that are still successful today, I can't ever remember asking someone being interviewed for a picture of a stadium.
I ask what their hobbies are, what they like to do on their own time, what classes they took and if they liked them.
What do you think other employers are worried about?
Tom
The whole thing is odd. We seem to have misplaced our priorities.
When I went to a rural high school with 200 students we had a very nice shop class, drafting (which would be CAD today), biology lab, business lab, and science lab. We played football on a flat level grass field behind the school that was shared by the phys ed classes and probably didn't cost much more than the lawn area.
While we are eliminating engineering and life-useful skills like business, shop, and drafting we have stepped up the feel good facades that make a few students feel good for a few years but don't add much to useful life skills.
We are clearly doing something wrong because the USA when students are tested at age 15 now rank 40th in the world in some important categories. 40th is not good.
Read this report:
http://abcnews.go.com/2020/Stossel/story?id=1500338
There are dozens more just like it, and none that counter it. We need to admit we have a problem before we can fix anything.
Tom
LZT
Ask Governor Sonny Perdue?
No wonder B'ville was willing to bend over backwards for Chen: He's a Chinaman, and already owns it.
Scoopster, time for you to ask some hard questions of this bunch!
Not what the IDA says, but the actual documents. The IDA has a tendency to tell grossly exaggerated or incomplete tales to the community.
Are we on the hook for money?
Tom
Tom Rouch- I would vote for you. I think you know
how to help this community.
My opinion is to get teachers that can teach not baby sit.
Tell the children to sit down and shut up and listen, or
go to the lunch room and wash dishes and mop floors.