The Hard Truth of HB2 and Its Effect on North Carolina’s Economy in 2016

Election day is looming. This is it. In two days, it’ll all be over, except for the crying.

Let’s face it: No matter who takes the White House – barring some amazing, wonderful, miraculous twist, where a third party candidate successfully blocks the Republican nightmare or the Democrat disaster from reaching 270 electoral college votes –  we’re wrecked, on the federal level.

The state level races have become more important because of the certainty of doom at the top.

My state is North Carolina, deemed a “battleground” state, and what a battle it has been.

I’ll say it, and say it with absolute confidence: North Carolina has the best governor in the nation, right now.

There is a reason Democrats, fringe groups, leftists, liberal headhunters, and assorted riff raff from across the country have made Pat McCrory enemy #1.

He’s effective.

He’s doing everything opposite of what they stand for and is reaping huge benefits for the state of North Carolina. If he continues on along this path, at some point, it will catch on. Voters will begin to take notice, and their own self-interests will be awakened to just how oppressed they have been by the big government, tax-and-spend policies of the left.

All that, and he’s got his feet pretty firmly planted on social issues, as well.

So, yeah. That McCrory guy has got to go.

Biased rags like The Raleigh News & Observer, or the horrendous Charlotte Observer have led the charge to discredit all the good of the McCrory governorship.

The Charlotte Observer was the source of the jaw-dropping editorial – printed with absolute seriousness – that compared allowing men into the ladies room to allowing African-Americans to sit at white lunch counters during the era of the civil rights struggle. They even printed the insane line that girls would have to get over their discomfort of seeing penises in their bathrooms.

I don’t want people who think like that to be in charge of running anything that directly affects my life.

Roy Cooper, Governor McCrory’s Democrat challenger, is somebody who thinks like that.

With all the talk of certain destruction to the state, brought on by the HB2 “bathroom bill,” I started thinking of just how many jobs have come to the state, under the leadership of Governor McCrory.

I decided to take a look back over the past year, at least back to the point of when HB2 became law, when Democrats began to gleefully declare North Carolina a bigoted, dying state. That would take us back to late March or early April.

It has proven to be a daunting task, because Governor Pat McCrory is the real deal. Many companies committed to North Carolina in 2016.

I gathered this list from various places, so hang on, and be amazed.

“North Carolina is welcoming new jobs and investment across both traditional and emerging industries,” said Governor McCrory. “Our manufacturing sector in particular is firing on all cylinders as both national and international companies recognize our world-leading business climate.”

Recent announcements include:

• King Charles Industries: Anson County. 100 new jobs. $12.5 million capital investment. The company is a joint venture by Taiwan’s Kingwhale Corp. and Hornwood Inc., a 70-year-old North Carolina textile manufacturer.
• Pepsi Bottling Ventures: Robeson County. 50 new jobs. $16.5 million capital investment. The company’s state-of-the-art distribution center will serve consumers from South Carolina to Delaware.
• Mafic USA: Cleveland County. 113 new jobs. $15.5 million capital investment. The company is a Canadian/Irish manufacturer of advanced materials for the automotive, aerospace, alternative energy and numerous other industries.
• LendingTree: Mecklenburg County. 314 new jobs. $47 million capital investment. The popular online consumer-finance portal is expanding its corporate headquarters operations in the Queen City.
• K-FLEX: Franklin County. 100 new jobs. $45 million capital investment. The Italy-based manufacturer of thermal and acoustic insulation products is expanding its Youngsville plant.
• JELD-WEN: Mecklenburg County. 200 new jobs. Multi-million-dollar capital investment. The global supplier of residential and commercial building products is expanding its Charlotte headquarters operation and creating a customer training center.
• Lotus Bakeries: Alamance County. 60 new jobs. $48 million capital investment. The Belgian maker of gourmet cookies has chosen the N.C. Industrial Center in Mebane for its first U.S manufacturing facility.
• RSI Home Products: Richmond County. 175 new jobs. $5.8 million capital investment. The manufacturer of kitchen, bath and home storage cabinetry in North America has been making its products in North Carolina for more than 20 years.
• World Equestrian Games: $400 million economic impact. Administered by the Federation Equestre Internationale (FEI), the WEG occurs every four years in the middle of the Olympic cycle and is the major international championship event for equestrian sport.

Those were just the last two weeks, folks. Hang on, because I may have bitten off more than I can chew, here.

There was GoHealth, a Chicago health insurance marketplace, which opened offices in Charlotte, bringing 525 new jobs to the area, with another 100 jobs expected by 2017.

That should make up for the 400 jobs lost because of PayPal’s pull out, shouldn’t it?

Anson County will be getting King Charles Industries, a textiles factory, employing about 100 people and adding approximately $2.8 million to the local economy.

Printful is a print-on-demand company is coming to the Charlotte area, giving 200 more people in the area a chance to work, earn, and provide for their families.

Corning Optical Communications will expand their operations in the Winston-Salem and Hickory area of the state, creating 205 new jobs and investing $83.5 million into the state’s economic well-being over the next 5 years.

For any Democrats reading this… that’s fiber optics for voice, data, and video communications. It ain’t flipping burgers.

The life sciences company, Avadim Technologies will be expanding in Buncombe County, bringing another 551 jobs, and facilities that will likely have both men and women’s bathrooms.

Durham, North Carolina will add 79 more jobs when a contract research company, Almac Group, expands there.

A smaller, but still important (especially for those who need the job) industry is Yokohama Tire Corporation. They’ll be bringing 56 jobs to Concord, North Carolina, and injecting $2.7 million into the local economy.

Prescient Company plans to build its East Coast headquarters at the North Carolina Commerce Park near Mebane, investing $18.8 million in the facility and creating 205 new jobs in Alamance County.

Folks, I’m working backwards through the calendar of jobs that either came to or committed to North Carolina, under the leadership of Governor Pat McCrory, and I’m only in late August. Do you get the feeling that there might be a bit of an economic boom going on in the old North State?

On August 23, 2016 the governor’s office announced that HAECO Americas, an aircraft maintenance and repair company, had begun construction on a fifth hangar at the Piedmont Triad International Airport, expected to bring 500 new jobs to the area.

Richmond County, North Carolina will be getting Direct Pack, a manufacturer of customized food packaging. It will bring around 100 jobs to the city, and injecting $12.5 million into the local economy.

Wayne County, in eastern North Carolina will benefit from U-Play Corporation, a Chinese sanitary products company. That’s another 88 jobs, there.

I’m thankful there is a page to track down tourism and industry for the state of North Carolina. It has made tracking these jobs down so much easier.

Dynamic Air Engineering Inc. is relocating to the city of Claremont in Catawba County, where it intends to build a 46-person workforce over the next three years, investing more than $6.8 million. The company has also set further goals of adding at least seven more positions in years four and five following its relocation.

Smart Products Inc., a manufacturer of plastic check valves and pumps, plans to relocate from California to North Carolina and create 26 new jobs in Henderson County.

The company, currently headquartered in Morgan Hill, California, is investing $3.2 million to construct a 30,000-square-foot building in Mills River that will house its manufacturing, research and design, and executive offices.

Relias Learning, which provides online training to health care professionals, will add more than 450 jobs over the next five years in Wake County. The company plans to invest $4.5 million at its location in the Cary through the end of 2020.

B&G Foods Snacks will create 58 jobs over the next three years as it expands its bakery operations in Yadkinville, North Carolina. The company plans to invest $7.6 million at the facility over that time.

TekTone Sound & Signal, which makes wired and wireless health care call systems, will create 35 jobs over the next five years as it expands operations in Macon County. The company plans to invest $2.9 million in its facility over that time.

SWELECT Energy Systems  intends to build a 155-person workforce in Halifax County over the coming five years, investing more than $4.7 million in a manufacturing site and adjacent solar farm.

New Jersey-based United States Cold Storage will create 50 jobs in Duplin County over the next five years as it expands its distribution and warehouse operations there. The company plans to invest $21.6 million at its facility in Warsaw over that time.

Porter’s Group will invest $3.75 million to expand and establish a new metal parts manufacturing facility in Cleveland County, North Carolina. The company plans to hire an additional 44 workers over the next three years.

Japan’s largest international candy and confectionary maker recently hosted a ceremony marking the opening of its first plant outside Asia, located in Mebane, North Carolina.

Morinaga & Co., founded in 1899 in Tokyo, produces a wide array of confectioneries, including milk caramel, chocolates, cookies, cocoa mix and frozen desserts such as ice cream sandwiches and sundae cups.

The company’s subsidiary, Morinaga America Foods, began production at the Mebane plant last year, blending syrup, sugar, flavorings and other ingredients to produce soft candy including HI-CHEW, a fruit-flavored candy highly popular in Japan.

Recruited to North Carolina in September 2013, Morinaga America Foods plans to create 90 new jobs and invest $48 million in its new 120,000-square-foot production plant in Orange County by January 2018.

WalkMe Inc., a San Francisco-based developer of software tools, has established a regional headquarters in Raleigh where it plans to create hundreds jobs over over the next few years, according to the company’s website.

Mountaire Farms has entered into an agreement to acquire the former Townsend processing plant and an adjoining property in Siler City, N.C. , for an expansion that will renovate the plant, create more than 500 new jobs and significantly contribute to the local economy.

Mountaire will invest $100 million to reopen the plant, develop the adjoining property and construct a complementary feed mill, according to the Triad Business Journal.

AuroBindo Pharma USA, Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical company, committed to bringing 275 new jobs to Durham.

That’s the short list, folks, and they’re all companies that have committed since HB2 was made law in the state.

It’s crazy, really. It’s as if companies care more about a tax rate that will allow them to have a profitable business, available resources, and a welcoming business climate, than they care about forcing little girls to get comfortable with seeing penises in their bathrooms.

It’s the difference between having a grown up in the seat of leadership (McCrory), and pouty, arrogant, reckless children (Democrats).

McCrory has proven himself as a good steward of leadership.

The unhinged cries of ruin have not come to pass, so North Carolina Democrats and their out-of-state benefactors can kill the noise. Facts don’t lie.

On Tuesday, we will find out if the lies of the left were enough to overcome the positive truths of McCrory’s record.

I pray for our sake that North Carolina’s voters make the right choice.

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