What's up with Caterpillar???

pgprescott

i hope no damaging result is in hand. 

HendersonTRKing

Wilbur Ross is long Deere and Komatsu . . .

YukonRon

IRS is looking for $2B from their Swiss subsidiary, on back taxes.

Eoin

Maybe the bull run will end if the various US companies keeping money overseas suddenly have to pay CT.

RRP

YukonRon said:

IRS is looking for $2B from their Swiss subsidiary, on back taxes.

No - it was revealed there's more to it than just that. I live next to Peoria and the rumors are flying! Here's the latest in our local fish wrapper which will be in print tomorrow.
http://www.pjstar.com/news/20170303/federal-raid-at-caterpillar-may-examine-crimes-beyond-tax-strategy  

pgprescott

This could be devastating for our area Ron. Especially your neighborhood. 

RRP

pgprescott said:

This could be devastating for our area Ron. Especially your neighborhood. 

Peoria and the surrounding area have lived and breathed Caterpillar for nearly 100 years. Besides CAT itself there are so many ancillary businesses which feed into or by CAT. Due to its presence in the world economy our area has always seemed to scoff at economic ups and downs since big yellow equipment was always needed somewhere in the world. 

Despite the conflict berween the UAW and CAT the truth is to be blue collar in Peoria CAT still meant a damn good living. In my former life in banking in Peoria I was well aware of the blue collar income which qualified them for fine home ownership, fancy cars, boats and a wonderful life style in general. What got out of hand was the top pay for CAT presidents. Then the apparent attempts to fund that on "worker's backs" which personally was b.s., but just the same was fodder for the UAW.

Yes, this latest news sounds very bad, but the tax part honestly is old news and has been an ongoing issue for 3 years. What is new is the open ended nature of the government's witch hunt search warrants.

This community suffered more of a MAJOR seizure recently when CAT announced that the top 100 fat cats plus 200 support staff and the corporate headquarters itself are being pulled out and transferred to Chicago. Talk about ball buster news to a community! Coupled with that devasting news of course was the cancellation of the plans to rebuild the headquarters to include a multi-block footprint in downtown Peoria.

Peoria will survive, but these two recent blows below the belt hurts! 

Jeepster47

Two points:

1) The Peoria Journal Star lacks a balanced approach when reporting on local developments.  Since Caterpillar's local unions are currently working without a contract, I would expect the PJS to prominently report anything that might reflect unfavorably on CAT ... might even report a position unsupported by facts.

2) Annually, upper and middle management employees have to sign a deposition that they understand the Caterpillar Code of Conduct and acted in accordance with it's intent during the past year.  Within my division, signing of the deposition was taken seriously.  Committing a criminal activity never entered our thought process.

I admit it doesn't look great, but will still wait for someone besides the PJS to explain what's behind the "raid." 

Jeepster47

PS ... didn't Trump, just a few days ago, say that he loved Caterpillar?  Makes you wonder if the Democrats aren't attacking CAT just to piss in Trump's punch bowl.

pgprescott

Jeepster47 said:

Two points:

1) The Peoria Journal Star lacks a balanced approach when reporting on local developments.  Since Caterpillar's local unions are currently working without a contract, I would expect the PJS to prominently report anything that might reflect unfavorably on CAT ... might even report a position unsupported by facts.

2) Annually, upper and middle management employees have to sign a deposition that they understand the Caterpillar Code of Conduct and acted in accordance with it's intent during the past year.  Within my division, signing of the deposition was taken seriously.  Committing a criminal activity never entered our thought process.

I admit it doesn't look great, but will still wait for someone besides the PJS to explain what's behind the "raid." 

I sincerely hope there is nothing to this. For the sake of all the blue and white collar workers, as well as the ancillary businesses 

RRP

Jeepster47 said:

Two points:

The Peoria Journal Star lacks a balanced approach when reporting on local developments. 

I admit it doesn't look great, but will still wait for someone besides the PJS to explain what's behind the "raid." 

Truer words have never been spoken! 

The PJS editorial page and the letters they allow to be printed are so one sided since the old guard died they are a joke! What a fish wrapper! 

SemolinaPilchard

RRP said:

The PJS editorial page and the letters they allow to be printed are so one sided since the old guard died they are a joke! What a fish wrapper! 

Sounds a lot like what happened to the once great New York Times.

Focker

RRP said:

pgprescott said:

This could be devastating for our area Ron. Especially your neighborhood. 

Peoria and the surrounding area have lived and breathed Caterpillar for nearly 100 years. Besides CAT itself there are so many ancillary businesses which feed into or by CAT. Due to its presence in the world economy our area has always seemed to scoff at economic ups and downs since big yellow equipment was always needed somewhere in the world. 

Despite the conflict berween the UAW and CAT the truth is to be blue collar in Peoria CAT still meant a damn good living. In my former life in banking in Peoria I was well aware of the blue collar income which qualified them for fine home ownership, fancy cars, boats and a wonderful life style in general. What got out of hand was the top pay for CAT presidents. Then the apparent attempts to fund that on "worker's backs" which personally was b.s., but just the same was fodder for the UAW.

Yes, this latest news sounds very bad, but the tax part honestly is old news and has been an ongoing issue for 3 years. What is new is the open ended nature of the government's witch hunt search warrants.

This community suffered more of a MAJOR seizure recently when CAT announced that the top 100 fat cats plus 200 support staff and the corporate headquarters itself are being pulled out and transferred to Chicago. Talk about ball buster news to a community! Coupled with that devasting news of course was the cancellation of the plans to rebuild the headquarters to include a multi-block footprint in downtown Peoria.

Peoria will survive, but these two recent blows below the belt hurts! 

This sucks Ron.  Got sick to my stomach when I first heard Cat moving their headquarters.

Case IH shutting down was tragic here as well, but we recovered.

Deere, and the big 5 of "AR Valley" are a similar comparison here in the QC.

Les Baer was smart, he said Fock you IL and your stupid BS, and moved his operation from Hillsdale over the river into IA.

If I move, it will be to IA without a doubt.  

JohnInCarolina

Jeepster47 said:

PS ... didn't Trump, just a few days ago, say that he loved Caterpillar?  Makes you wonder if the Democrats aren't attacking CAT just to piss in Trump's punch bowl.

The piece mentions federal search warrants being issued.  How would those be the result of Democrats?

Ozzie_Isaac

Cat moving the headquarters was bad, moving it to Chicago was a slap to the face.  Cat leadership always threatened the Governor with leaving the state, talking how anti-business they were and how Chicago was the den of the beast.  Then they move there?  Makes everything they have said in support of Peoria and their employees seem like B.S.

BTW, their current ethics program motto is, "Win the right way".

Jeepster47

JohnInCarolina said:

Jeepster47 said:

PS ... didn't Trump, just a few days ago, say that he loved Caterpillar?  Makes you wonder if the Democrats aren't attacking CAT just to piss in Trump's punch bowl.

The piece mentions federal search warrants being issued.  How would those be the result of Democrats?

Left overs in the bureaucracy that haven't been replaced yet 'cuz the new administration leaders are being slow walked through the senate.  But then, you knew that John ... stop trolling the old guys.

JohnInCarolina

Jeepster47 said:

JohnInCarolina said:

Jeepster47 said:

PS ... didn't Trump, just a few days ago, say that he loved Caterpillar?  Makes you wonder if the Democrats aren't attacking CAT just to piss in Trump's punch bowl.

The piece mentions federal search warrants being issued.  How would those be the result of Democrats?

Left overs in the bureaucracy that haven't been replaced yet 'cuz the new administration leaders are being slow walked through the senate.  But then, you knew that John ... stop trolling the old guys.

Certainly possible, I'm just not sure there's much evidence for it at this stage.  I guess I'll wait to see what shakes out of this, if anything.

Eoin

Ozzie_Isaac said:

Cat moving the headquarters was bad, moving it to Chicago was a slap to the face.  Cat leadership always threatened the Governor with leaving the state, talking how anti-business they were and how Chicago was the den of the beast.  Then they move there?  Makes everything they have said in support of Peoria and their employees seem like B.S.

BTW, their current ethics program motto is, "Win the right way".

Having worked in the heavy equipment business since I left school, ethics is a tricky issue to deal with. Many countries (for example, Germany, in my experience) turn a blind eye to what their companies get up to on the international stage while in the UK we take pride in prosecuting our own businesses for doing the same thing.

I keep my business completely clean because I don't want to go to jail, but I sometimes wonder if this is the right approach when faced with competitors who seem to have no business ethics at all.

pgprescott

Ozzie_Isaac said:

Cat moving the headquarters was bad, moving it to Chicago was a slap to the face.  Cat leadership always threatened the Governor with leaving the state, talking how anti-business they were and how Chicago was the den of the beast.  Then they move there?  Makes everything they have said in support of Peoria and their employees seem like B.S.

BTW, their current ethics program motto is, "Win the right way".

I heard this was a result of wanting to wine and dine the customer. 

HeavyG

Jeepster47 said:

JohnInCarolina said:

Jeepster47 said:

PS ... didn't Trump, just a few days ago, say that he loved Caterpillar?  Makes you wonder if the Democrats aren't attacking CAT just to piss in Trump's punch bowl.

The piece mentions federal search warrants being issued.  How would those be the result of Democrats?

Left overs in the bureaucracy that haven't been replaced yet 'cuz the new administration leaders are being slow walked through the senate.  But then, you knew that John ... stop trolling the old guys.

From a Fox News piece:

The company, which makes mining and construction equipment, was slapped with three search warrants by the feds on Thursday.

On Friday, U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross confirmed that the raids were part of an ongoing probe against the company. 

“The Commerce Department has enforcement responsibilities both on imports and on exports, so it’s an important part of our function,” Ross said on CNBC. “We’re going to be even stricter on enforcement, particularly on inbound goods that shouldn’t be.”

******

I guess there is a chance that Trump pal and fellow billionaire Secretary Ross is actually an Obama plant.

Link to the whole article - http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/03/03/feds-dig-in-agents-raid-trump-touted-caterpillar.html

JohnInCarolina

HeavyG said:

I guess there is a chance that Trump pal and fellow billionaire Secretary Ross is actually an Obama plant.

gdenby

Jeepster47 said:

...

2) Annually, upper and middle management employees have to sign a deposition that they understand the Caterpillar Code of Conduct and acted in accordance with it's intent during the past year.  Within my division, signing of the deposition was taken seriously.  Committing a criminal activity never entered our thought process.

Just as an aside, I read a book not long ago by the guy who was the whistle blower on the UBS tax dodge operation. He found that there had been an internal memo he had never received forbidding certain practices that he was trained and ordered to do. He came across the memo buried in the company archives, and realized that the company was setting him (and maybe others) to take the fall. His initial reward for coming forth about the tax evasion scheme both Americans and Swiss were doing was going to federal prison for a couple of years.

Not saying anything like that is going on w. Caterpillar, but legal hi-jinx, to use an old fashioned word, seem to be pretty common.

The details of these things can be well hidden. A friend of mine spent several years wondering about certain odd policies of his ex-employer. Turned out, it was money laundering.