ATTENTION SOUTHSIDE AND SOUTHWEST

MARK WARNER JOINS GOP FILLIBUSTER WITH FOUR OTHER "DEMOCRATS" TO BLOCK BILL THAT ELIMINATED TAX BREAKS FOR COMPANIES THAT SEND JOBS OVERSEAS.

Comments

[SatirclAlx]

Uh, Ben, you might wanna go read what I just tweeted to to Warner. LOL

[Jack]

Well, he WAS elected as a pro-business Democrat.

[steve vaughan]

This is not at all surprising. He's a free trader all the way.

[Church Hill Dem]

I'm a dem and I gotta say, I'm with Warner on this one. Companies don't outsource jobs for fun, they do it to contain costs. Some jobs are better done in the US, and some jobs are better done elsewhere. It's how the world works.

[Not Larry Sabato]

Church Hill- I don't have a problem with a company choosing to place some jobs overseas- but we shouldn't be giving them tax credits to do so! That's what this vote was about.

[SE VA MWC Alum]

still love the mark warner bluegrass, its great

[Gretchen Laskas]

Also, too often companies move things overseas in order to meet a short term goal, even at their long-term expense. It would be nice if I thought that all companies were making these decisions simply as a cost cutting measure, but just because that is what they say, doesn't mean that the numbers always bear that out.

[yoyoyo]

What great music and what a great guy!

[Brian W. Schoeneman]

This is complex issue and I can see both sides. I don't want to see companies shipping jobs overseas, and I certainly don't want to be giving them tax breaks but at the same time, without those tax breaks the company may find it's more economical to simply move entirely.

If we have to give tax breaks to a company that ships some jobs overseas to keep the company here and some jobs here rather than lose than them all, I would go with the former.

It's not a great solution, but I can't fault them for it.

[Not Timothy Geithner]

Brian W. Schoeneman,

Heres the thing if the company can't hack it in America let them move. I trust the American enterprising spirit. Apparently Mark Warner and the GOP want to make it more lucrative for companies to ship jobs to China. Maybe the Chinese should be offering those tax breaks not the U.S. government? I know the Republicans have adopted the concept of red states, but I didn't know they were out and out reds.

[Chubber]

Further proof that the Dem party has no clue on what makes the economy work. It's a deduction for a cost or a loss, just like any other business tax deduction. Should we also deny deductions for costs associated with shutting down a factory that no longer is productive? Or what about costs associated with retooling an inefficient factory that involves shedding redundant jobs? Also, what does this say to other countries whose businesses have extensive operations here, like VW, whose North American HQ was moved recently to Reston. Should VW go home and in-source U.S. manufacturing jobs to Germany?

[Brian W. Schoeneman]

NTG, plenty of countries DO offer tax breaks to get companies to move there, or have so lowered their corporate tax rates as to make them more attractive to businesses. Look at Ireland.

Like I said, this is a difficult issue. Which is worse, losing all the jobs, or losing some and giving tax breaks to keep the rest? I think losing all the jobs is worse, so I have to say Warner and Webb didn't make a poor choice here.

[Pas Très Bête]

Wow, Ben, since the U.S. has some of the highest business taxes in the world, I hope you favor lowering them. All that "outsourcing" must explain our 9.6% unemployment rate (NOT)!

By the way, did you ever actually take and pass an economics course?