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Syndicate
Call me incredibly naive but I believe individual voters can influence the outcome of elections.
I'll be at the polls Tuesday casting a vote for my preferred county executive candidate. The county clerk says fewer than 20 percent of my fellow citizens will exercise their right to go to the polls.
There's another right we all have — where to spend and invest our money.
Our decisions can affect local employment levels and whether companies we want to succeed, in fact, do.
Or, perhaps, that is just another belief of mine that collapses under scrutiny.
For example, my family chooses to patronize Rob's Market on Manitowoc's north side near our home.
The grocery store on Menasha Avenue is owned by Rob and Mindy Hollen, a local couple in their 30's pursuing the dream of small business ownership.
I wonder what dreams have been put on hold by the 275 employees of Fisher Hamilton who were laid off on Friday, with no certain return date.
Parent corporation Fisher Scientific International has said it is considering selling the Two Rivers manufacturer of laboratory workstations, including wood and metal cabinetry.
A news release from the New Hampshire company said it's uncertain whether the local operations are a "strategic fit."
On Monday the Department of Workforce Development's "Rapid Response Team" will meet with these individuals and discuss unemployment benefits, educational services, Badger Care, training services and other "dislocated worker" services.
After talking with several local investment representatives I should not assume every Manitowoc County resident would like to see them return to work — not if it jeopardizes the profits of Fischer Scientific International, a public company whose shares are traded on the New York Stock Exchange.
"Most shareholders regardless of what company it is — Manitowoc Company, McDonald's, Wal-mart, whatever — they want the stock price to go up," said Carla Liban, an investment representative with Edward Jones in Manitowoc.
"Unfortunately, if that means putting jobs outside the country, that is what they companies are going to do," Liban said. "Until enough people take a stand and say, 'We have to keep the jobs here,' it's not going to happen."
Manitowoc A.G. Edwards investments counselor Jeff Kuklinski agreed with Liban that it is the exceptionally rare investor who looks at any factors beyond the company's bottom line.
He said jobs going overseas may benefit shareholders but can have a devastating impact on American communities.
Kuklinski said a reverse tariff on products coming back into the United States "might deter U.S. companies from taking jobs outside our country."
George Reis said investors don't come to his Two Rivers office and express a preference for investing in American companies who declare they will keep Americans employed.
He said about 50 percent of Americans probably own a piece of Exxon Mobil as part of their pension of 401K.
He said people talk about "exorbitant" profits of oil companies. But Reis said he doesn't hear people call for reduced gas prices and lower return on their investments.
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