02 March 2009

Hershey moves 260 U.S. jobs to Mexico

Life is not so sweet these days for workers at the Hershey candy factory in Reading, Pennsylvania, where they make York peppermint patties and other treats.

After 23 years in Reading, Hershey is moving 260 jobs to Mexico to take advantage of the cheaper labor south of the border.

This is exactly the kind of thing we do not need in the current economic climate. We need to see companies putting Americans back to work, not giving more of our jobs away to our cheaper foreign counterparts.

President Obama's proposed budget would end tax breaks for companies that ship our jobs to other countries. If, of course, the Republicans let that happen. Meantime, however, it's too late for all those men and women who spent more than two decades making those wonderful peppermint patties.

The cost of labor will go down, but surely the price of a peppermint patty will stay the same. The profits can then make the rich corporate executives even richer.

It seems that the American dream today is available only to the rich.

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