Little Falls boat plant to close

Brunswick Corp. announced Tuesday that it will close its Little Falls boat factory this fall after a production phase-out that will start in May.

[yowzer]

BRUNSWICK......Remember when they took over Harley Davidson....

[calvin]

"Minnesota has a lot of recreational employment but we need some strong industrial base, which is in China," Otremba said. "The president and Congress can give you stimulus programs all you want, but we need jobs."

I got it Councilman Otremba,

Rub the top of your head with your left hand while rubbing your belly with your right hand, twirl around 5 times and say: jobs, jobs, jobs.

Then jump into your Toyota and get out of town.

[wtf]

Didn't Jacob put the plant up for auction and then bought it back, and now is closing it? Why didn't he just do that to begin with and save everyone the hassle?

[Tom]

Should not have been unexpected as discretionary spending is way down. Little Falls needs to diversify to avoid the downturns that are inevitible in the recreation market, which has always been volatile. Without a dramatic overhaul in skills, what can the displaced workers produce competitively that is currently be imported and is a consumer staple? If the answer is nothing than the Little Falls community will be in serious decline.

[Leprechaun]

Move the jobs from one town or state to another as the local politicians give a way tax dollars to attract them. Then when nobody has any "Free" money to offer, ship the production off to China. Meanwhile everyone is shopping for cheap, Chinese made goods at WalMart and wondering where the jobs are.

[Jeff Maloney]

Tom wrote:

Should not have been unexpected as discretionary spending is way down. Little Falls needs to diversify to avoid the downturns that are inevitible in the recreation market, which has always been volatile. Without a dramatic overhaul in skills, what can the displaced workers produce competitively that is currently be imported and is a consumer staple? If the answer is nothing than the Little Falls community will be in serious decline.

Tom needs to be banned from the comment board for talking sense. I don't come here to read comments that have no reference to "obuumer" or "dictator hussaine." Tom may think his rational discussion may force us to stop and think, but his plan will never work.

[NO STADIUM4VIKES]

Those jobs will never come back.

[tww]

Sounds like Obama could save these jobs!

[ABS]

felix wrote:

dictator hussaine blows another 180 jobs or did he save or create them lol

You are confusing 2 different boat plants. Jacobs does not own the Brunswick plant. The hope is that Jacobs will ramp up production at his plant to help offset the loss of jobs at Brunswick.

[started with clinton]

this is where your unions got you ---- unemployed. Now we just have to start shutting the union schools.

[ABS]

Oops, replied to wrong post. The reply was intended for **** (post #4)

[wtf]

NoSht wrote:

What ... Blow Hole Joe Biden has been telling us how the econcomy is getting better .... How is that working out for these 180 people?

But "Honest" Joe wouldn't lie now....would he?

[Mee]

It amazes me that in some people's eyes everything that goes wrong is Obama's fault. I always thought this recession started under Bush's watch. How many jobs did his bank bailouts save? at least AIG is still around to hand out over $100 million dollars in bonuses. That too has not saved these 180 jobs. This is big business making economically sound decisions to become more efficient.

[LFFlyer]

I grew up in Little Falls, this trend started years ago with the closing of the Hennepin Paper Mill. Since then, the city developed an industrial park which has failed due to an improper leadership philosophy, the business incentives just aren't there. This seems to be due to an unwillingness and/or lack of a progressive mentality with respect to advancing the community. Beautiful town, it's just not far enough north to be considered lake country, or far enough south to take advantage of the interstate. It will very likely remain a quiet little river town. As the song goes, "same as it ever was."

[vikingsfanforeve r]

Otremba and Mr. Bobick have to realize there are no jobs in Brainerd or St.Coud to commute to. Rural MN. is hurting badly and their answer was always come to the cities where there is work. Well guess what none here either. Might be why so many homeless people out there right now!

[Sandy]

This is a real tragedy for Little Falls.
Let's have some sympathy for these people.

The corporations will continue to do what will make them the most money with no regard for the loyal human lives that they are harming. That must not be rewarded.
The Obama administration wants to help small businesses to flourish and be able to hire so that regular people like these can live a decent life.
That is a good approach. Hopefully it will be passed and will help Little Falls to recover.

[LFFlyer]

vikingsfanforever wrote:

Otremba and Mr. Bobick have to realize there are no jobs in Brainerd or St.Coud to commute to. Rural MN. is hurting badly and their answer was always come to the cities where there is work. Well guess what none here either. Might be why so many homeless people out there right now!

Growing up I had an almost innate understanding that to get ahead in life as I wanted to, there was no choice but to move away. It seems as though Little Falls is all-to-willing to be a detached suburb of the communities that surround it.

[Carbon Bigfoot]

yowzer wrote:

BRUNSWICK......Remember when they took over Harley Davidson....

Brunswick never had anything to do with Harley-Davidson. Check your facts; it was AMF that bought HD, and kept them afloat for about 12 years (although with serious quality problems), until new investors bought HD from AMF in 1981.

[LFFlyer]

All of my comments are made with sympathy to the Little Falls community. But until they change their leadership philosophy, they will remain a continually constricting entity. I have experienced this firsthand as a former resident.

[wgk]

NoSht wrote:

What ... Blow Hole Joe Biden has been telling us how the econcomy is getting better .... How is that working out for these 180 people?

If you live in New York Mills, Lebanon, MO, its getting better! What does Biden have to do with this? I didn't see his name anywhere in the article? Maybe if Tpain wasn't trying to line up his run for President and was doing some states business he could have waved his magic wand and saved the jobs!