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CREATING EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES

    In case anyone hasn’t noticed yet, we are in an economic recession. While the federal government spends billions of our tax dollars and offers us tax cuts in exchange for a budget deficit, I plan on focusing on what we can do to bring jobs and prosperity to Ohio. While NAFTA has done exactly what many political and financial experts feared (sucking many of our manufacturing jobs south of the border), it is the Japanese companies that have successful built automobiles here in Ohio. Now why is that? Maybe they know how to run an automobile business better than the American companies?

    My father spent 32 years working in the Dayton factories of General Motors. He saw inefficiency every single day of those 32 years. An example of the inefficiency he witnessed follows:

The production assembly line depends primarily on having all the parts prepared to be added to the automobile as it travels down the line. When supply runs low or part of the machinery breaks down, it is critical to re-supply or repair the machinery quickly. My father work on a machine press that was older than himself. When the machine suffered a part failure, he would shut it down and notify his superior. His superior would then put in a requisition order, which would go through a great many channels before reaching some cost accountant back in Detroit. Now that cost accountant, most likely, has no mechanical abilities whatsoever, and he searches for the cheapest replacement for the machine. He passes on the more expensive and more reliable part for the cheaper part which is prone to failure. Instead of paying a little more for the high quality, longer lasting part, he claims to “save money” by purchasing the inferior part. After a few months, the part fails again and slows production again. The cycle is repeated over and over, and even though the cost accountant appears to be saving money, he is actually wasting ridiculous amounts of money and manpower. Simply put, the American company is too “top heavy,” meaning there are far too many administrative positions and not enough efficiency in the workforce. Instead of cutting the administrative staff, these companies run south of the border to exploit the workforce of less-developed countries.

    As governor, I will seek to bring to Ohio companies with a plan for success. I will not abandon our misguided American companies, but I will encourage them to re-evaluate how they structure their businesses. No one wants to see our production jobs exchanged for lower paying service jobs, but that is the course we have set if things do not change.

Paid for by the Committee to elect Whitman and Clark. 

Treasurer, Lana Whitman, 3716 Co. Rd. 31 South, Bellefontaine, OH 43311