The AD:
Title: “Investing in Our People”
From: Paid by Friends of Dan Maffei
URL: http://www.maffeiforcongress.com/Multimedia/AdSpots/
What it says:
Dan Maffei is the Democrat running to succeed retiring Congressman Jim Walsh, a Republican, in the 25th Congressional District. His opponents are Republican Dale Sweetland and Green Populist Howie Hawkins This ad features Maffei with his sleeves rolled up and with the backdrop of an open field. In it, Maffei makes a pledge to voters to keep jobs in upstate New York.
As music plays in the background Maffei says:
“This parking lot used to be full of people coming to work. But today it’s full of weeds. What did Washington do? They gave a tax break to companies that sent these jobs to China. I’m running for Congress to change that — to keep our jobs here and create new ones by investing in the businesses and the people that make this place so special.”
The Facts:
In Maffei’s ad, he evokes a vivid image of job loss with his choice of setting:
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“This parking lot used to be full of people coming to work. And now it’s full of weeds.”
Statistics from the U.S. Bureau of Labor illustrate Maffei’s point that manufacturing jobs have declined for the past decade. In 1999, manufacturing companies in the Syracuse area employed 46,200 people.
But now, Syracuse’s manufacturing industry employs 32,300 people — a loss of 13,900 jobs in 9 years.
The Maffei campaign highlights the trend of local manufacturing companies taking local jobs overseas to countries like China. For example, two local manufacturing companies that laid off employees and took much of their operations to China were Carrier Corp. and Honeywell Imaging. Carrier Corp., famous for its air-conditioners, was one of Syracuse’s most prominent employers. Honeywell Imaging and Mobility made handheld computers and devices that capture data.
Of those jobs lost, no one really knows how many of those jobs went overseas to places like China. It’s hard to keep track of those numbers unless a company announces that it’s moving jobs overseas. For example, when Carrier announced its closure, they publicly announced that 1,200 jobs went overseas. The same goes for Honeywell Imaging. When they announced their closure this summer, they said 290 jobs were going to China.
In his ad, Maffei’s implication of manufacturing job loss is accurate.
But the second statement made in Maffei’s ad does leave out some context for manufacturing job loss.
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“What did Washington do? They gave a tax break to companies that sent these jobs to China.”
The Maffei campaign blames a “tax break” from Washington as the reason behind local manufacturing companies taking local jobs to China. But that’s not the whole picture.
Economist Martin Sullivan, a contributor to the non-partisan Tax Notes publication that analyzes tax issues, has studied economics for 30 years. As he explains it, the U.S.’s tax code allows companies to defer paying taxes on overseas profits until the companies bring the money back into U.S. And sometimes, they simply don’t do that. But, Sullivan says that’s not the only reason companies take jobs overseas.
“Yes, there is a strong incentive to move jobs off shore because of the U.S. tax code. But that doesn’t look like that’s the big reason for the millions of jobs you’re seeing leaving U.S. manufacturing,” said Sullivan, Instead, Sullivan points to lower wages and fewer regulations in countries like China as the top reason manufacturing companies transfer jobs to other countries.
Conclusion:
Overall, the Maffei campaign is accurate in its ad that points to a trend of manufacturing job losses over the years. But part of the ad leaves out some context for why those job were taken overseas, specifically the U.S.’s inability to compete with cheaper labor in other countries.
(Racquel Asa is a broadcast journalism graduate student.)
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