Harley-Davidson Took Its Tax Cut, 'Closed A Factory', And Then Rewarded Its Shareholders...
 

Years ago my firm where I worked at for 10 years, the CEO made a dividend promise to the share holders.. Yeah, he met it.... By outsourcing all of IT, selling off buildings and a division...

Poor sales are hurting profits, taking advantage of tax cuts, closing a factory and laying off workers is the usual way of stopping the bleeding. Shareholders profit during the restructuring.

Should they just have closed the doors?

Then built a new factory in Thailand...they suck

In essence, they did....

Granted sometimes you need to prune BUT you cannot put a dividend in front of longevity.. All Im saying..

The company has said it is not shipping jobs overseas. Rather, the plant in Thailand as well as plants in Brazil and India serve those markets and were built because tariff barriers make it cost-prohibitive to ship American-made bikes to those markets.

The tariffs in SE Asia are insane. The motorcycle market there is huge. 1 in every 40 people own a motorcycle and wealth is on the rise. They would be stupid not to try and tap the market there. In PI Harley's are selling steady at double and triple the cost of what we pay in the states.

It is pretty easy to see it this way if you do not run a business. Corporations have no loyalty except for the dollar. They are not run like small businesses. You can add all the mystique you want to their product, but in the end, it is an accounting spread sheet and an accountant that makes the decision.

In the 70's, we thought that Lawyers would inherit the earth, meaning that everyone would have to become a lawyer just to survive. We were wrong, accountants own the lawyers, the politicians, the press and will inherit the earth. Harley is no different, only we who ride them are different.

I feel good about my daughter graduating with a degree in accounting this year now.