5/14

Perfectly in synch with our reading on multinational corporations and foreign direct investment is the latest news both in this arena and in my hometown of Mobile, Alabama. ThyssenKrupp AG, a German-based steel corporation that employs over 187,000 worldwide and has roughly 600 foreign subsidiaries, announced plans this morning to build a $3.7 billion dollar steel processing plant in north Mobile County. The project will create 2,700 direct jobs and as many as 50,000 indirect jobs over the next few decades. The site will process steel from Brazil for use in a large variety of further production processes (most importantly, for use in the ever-growing automotive industry in the Southeast). A celebratory champagne brunch just wrapped up between city officials and ThyssenKrupp representatives, last I heard… Southern Hospitality at its finest.