Monday, April 27, 2009
The last outsource
Speaking of VOA, here's a new feature on the shutdown of Cannondale, the LAST mass producer of bicycles in the US. (Schwinn, Huffy, etc, have been Chinese for a long time.) A Canadian company (Dorel) bought Cannondale last year and now they are taking production to Taiwan. Obviously Dorel only wanted the brand name.
One question is unasked and unanswered. The Cannondale factory was profitable, which is why Dorel wanted to own the brand. So why hasn't an American capitalist bought the factory and its employees to restart under a new brand name? In other similar cases, a consortium of employees and local businesses restarted factories that were closed by criminal capitalists.
The new company obviously couldn't use Cannondale designs and patents, but I'll bet it could find equally good designs. Then the building, equipment and employees could resume making money. ¶ 9:08 AM
One question is unasked and unanswered. The Cannondale factory was profitable, which is why Dorel wanted to own the brand. So why hasn't an American capitalist bought the factory and its employees to restart under a new brand name? In other similar cases, a consortium of employees and local businesses restarted factories that were closed by criminal capitalists.
The new company obviously couldn't use Cannondale designs and patents, but I'll bet it could find equally good designs. Then the building, equipment and employees could resume making money. ¶ 9:08 AM
