Google To Close Its American Moto X Factory 154
An anonymous reader writes "After only one year in operation, Google's Moto X factory in Fort Worth, TX, is scheduled to close at the end of 2014. The decision to close apparently has nothing to do with Google's decision to sell Motorola Mobility to Lenovo and everything to do with poor sales numbers and high labor and shipping costs in the U.S. The factory had, at one point, employed 3,800 people. Their ranks now number at about 700. Moto E and Moto G, newer and cheaper iterations of Moto X, have sold in more profitable numbers overseas, so Google's original rationale of building phones nearer to the largest customer base to decrease time between assembly and delivery to end user will unsurprisingly force the closure of the U.S.-based factory and transfer labor overseas as well."
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Even the summary already explains that. They expected the Device to sell well in the US, so it made sense to have a factory there. Only it doesn't sell well, but it does sell well in Asia, so they can as well just manufacture it there.
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Because of a 3-way subsidy between the Chinese government, USPS, and eBay Greater China. [ecommercebytes.com]
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This story has been a drum the Tea Party has been trying to beat for a couple of years now. As usual, there's more to the story than the tea party jackoffs would have you believe.
http://www.motherjones.com/env... [motherjones.com]
And, Gibson settled the case anyway.
http://www.motherjones.com/blu... [motherjones.com]
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...the entire thing was a vast abuse of power...
Oh bullshit. They enforced the law. A law, I might add, that was signed into effect by President George W. Bush. A law with 10 Republican co-sponsors. A law which passed with fine bipartisan support in 2008. A law which Tea Partiers must oppose but which Republicans love because it's protectionism for the US logging industry. A law which has been proven empiracally to be working, since illegal logging is down 22% worldwide since the US and other countries enacted it.
Regardless of its pedigree and the fact it actually works, it's law. Laws are ineffective unless enforced. The FBI enforces federal law. The FBI showed up and enforced federal law in Tennessee. What did you expect them to do, send a politely worded letter and ask them to please mail their illegally obtained lumber to the FBI impound yard? When this was Gibson's second offense for the same damn thing? Or maybe you thought the local 55 year old balding slightly overweight county sheriff should show up with his trusty deputy Dudley and enforce the law? Which he can't do even if both he and you wanted him to, because it's federal law, and therefore not his law to enforce (though I'm sure he was invited by the FBI as a courtesy).
The FBI did precisely what it should have done to enforce the law with the least amount of danger to all involved. In a heavily armed portion of the country, they showed up with overwhelming force precisely so they wouldn't have to actually apply any force. If they had showed up with two guys in suits and a forklift, somebody probably would have been hurt. Instead they confiscated the lumber and left, because the law says "shall be confiscated." They did their jobs and did them quite well.
The rule of law is not some magical fairy dust you can just wish into existence. Laws are obeyed when they are enforced. A country is enjoying the rule of law when the laws are being enforced in an egalitarian fashion with a minimum of danger and damage to both the offenders and to innocent bystanders. The FBI successfully minimized the danger as proven by the fact there was no damage at all. As opposed to many many other places in the world where what passes for law enforcement is a heavily armed mob showing up at your warehouse, looking around and saying, "Nice place you got here. It'd be a shame if something happened to it," collecting a wad of cash and leaving, with some minor gratuitous damage and bullying along the way. Or if the owner doesn't pay, burning the place down.
The incident was a measured use of authorized power, carried out professionally and well.