Latest news with #JohnBoyd
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
National Black Farmers Association Condemn Proposal to Repeal Duty Drawback
"The Big, Beautiful Bill" Must Protect American Farmers, Protect Duty Drawback WASHINGTON, June 3, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Representing 130,000 members, the National Black Farmers Association (NBFA) is calling on the U.S. Senate to protect all farmers, especially those who grow American tobacco, by removing the provision to repeal the duty drawback incentive for U.S. tobacco manufacturers from the budget reconciliation bill. "What logic suggests that 'making America great again' is achieved on the backs of American farmers? Growers in North Carolina, Tennessee, South Carolina, and across our nation will be jeopardized if the duty drawback incentive does not remain in place," said 4th-generation black farmer John Boyd, Jr., founder and president of the NBFA. "To some, the incentive may seem minor. However, to my members and growers across America, protecting the duty drawback is of great significance. On behalf of the National Black Farmers Association, I humbly plead that legislators do not jeopardize the current American agricultural economy nor the future generations of American farmers." Without the support of duty drawback, the outlook for U.S. tobacco exports becomes increasingly grim. Additionally, domestic tobacco consumption has steadily declined over the past decade, adversely affecting American tobacco farmers. Kimberly Foley, Executive Director of Tobacco Associates, recently wrote to Members of Congress: "Export growth is not just our future, it's our present. Duty drawback plays a quiet but essential role in keeping U.S. leaf attractive on the international stage." Duty drawbacks are not loopholes—they are essential safeguards. Removing them would reverse over 200 years of trade policy designed to support American exports and bolster domestic manufacturing. Drawbacks stimulate domestic manufacturing in the states and ensure that U.S. leaf tobacco remains competitive in the international marketplace. If legislators remove the drawback incentive, this would lead to a decrease in US-grown tobacco crops. "The announcement of this proposed repeal was yet another blow to our industry. American farmers are already in a state of emergency due to tariffs and cuts from USAID. Tobacco has historically been a vital "cash crop," providing the financial means for farmers to cultivate other crops, such as sweet potatoes and peanuts, and helping farm families sustain their livelihoods. Keeping the duty drawback incentive in place protects American tobacco growers and fulfills the Administration's promise to support, rather than punish, farmers," President Boyd emphasized. The current House version of the legislation removes the Duty Drawback provision specifically for tobacco companies while preserving it for all other industries. Eliminating this incentive for American tobacco manufacturers would severely impact the farming of American tobacco crops. About The National Black Farmers Association (NBFA) is a nonprofit organization representing African American farmers and their families in the United States. As an association, it serves tens of thousands of members across the nation. The NBFA's education and advocacy efforts have been focused on civil rights, land retention, access to public and private loans, education, and agricultural training, as well as rural economic development for Black and other small farmers. For additional information, visit MEDIA CONTACT: Ayona Anderson 469-834-9500 396161@ View original content to download multimedia: SOURCE National Black Farmers Association Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
12-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
JetZero names Greensboro among 3 finalists in factory site search for proposed ‘all-wing' plane
GREENSBORO, N.C. (WGHP) — Greensboro is one of three finalists is considering for a factory to produce 'the world's first all-wing design airplane,' according to the company. On Monday, JetZero confirmed that the California-based aviation startup has narrowed its search to three locations, . The company said it would not reveal the other two finalists 'in order to preserve the integrity of the process.' NASA captures photo of Boom's landmark 'boomless' supersonic flight JetZero's vision is to create the Z4, a plane concept that would be up to 50% more fuel efficient than commercial jets. The factory would create 10,000 jobs, according to JetZero. The plane's unique design would be wider than a traditional commercial jet with a shorter body. It would include six seating bays with dedicated overhead bag bins for each seat. JetZero aims to complete its first full-scale flight in 2027, according to the company website. JetZero is expected to narrow down its choices for the proposed factory, evaluate economic incentives and make a final decision as soon as June. According to John Boyd, an expert in corporate site selection, the Triad is a no-brainer when it comes to aerospace, given the space at the Piedmont Triad International Airport and Guilford Technical Community College's Aviation Academy. PTI's expansive property is already home to several aviation-related businesses, including HondaJet and Boom Supersonic, Haaco and Marshall Industries. The Triad has also shown it is invested in developing housing, which is an essential tool in recruiting qualified workers. Greensboro is committed to building 10,000 more housing units in the next five years in a plan called Road to 10,000. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
03-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Opinion - The evidence is in: Forcing workers to join unions destroys good-paying jobs
Contrary to what you hear from most D.C. Beltway politicians and national media pundits, we do still make things in America. Veronique de Rugy, an economist and a senior research fellow at George Mason University's Mercatus Center, pointed out in a recent commentary that the inflation-adjusted value of U.S. industrial production — that is, manufacturing, mining and utilities combined — 'is higher than ever.' Real domestic manufacturing alone is up 177 percent — nearly triple — from 1975. And since 1994, the U.S. output of 'computer and electronic products' specifically has grown by 1,200 percent. Motor vehicle output is up 'well over 60 percent.' U.S. Labor Department data show nationwide payroll manufacturing employment was roughly 12.8 million in 2024. That's substantially higher than in 2009 or 2014, and slightly higher than in 2019, the last year before COVID-19 hit. U.S. Commerce and Labor Department data combined show the average annual compensation (including the value of noncash benefits) for an American factory employee is more than $100,000 a year. So there clearly is a future for good-paying factory jobs in our country. But the data also show state labor policy matters a lot in determining where net new job creation happens. From 2014 to 2024, manufacturing payroll employment grew by roughly 530,000, or 10.4 percent, in the 23 states that had right-to-work laws prohibiting the termination of employees who refuse to join or bankroll a union for that entire decade. Meanwhile, in the 23 states that lacked right-to-work protections for the whole period in question, aggregate manufacturing jobs fell by 0.2 percent, or roughly 12,000. (The four states that changed their policies during that period are excluded from this analysis.) The correlation between right-to-work status and superior growth in manufacturing jobs is robust. The seven states with the greatest percentage gains in manufacturing payrolls over the past decade (Nevada, Florida, Utah, Arizona, Idaho, Georgia and South Carolina) are all right-to-work states. Site selection experts whose career success depends on giving corporations good advice about where to make job-creating investments have confirmed again and again that right-to-work states are superior locations for new factories and expansions alike. In a 2023 interview, for example, Boyd Co. owner John Boyd observed that right-to-work laws have always been 'a recruiting tool for companies.' It's no mystery why, without right-to-work protections, employees are more likely to be forced into one-size-fits-all union contracts that foster work stoppages, wasteful work rules, job featherbedding and a union-label 'hate the boss' mentality. Just a few years ago, when they were still Harvard graduate students, economists Matthew Lilley and Benjamin Austin collaborated on research aimed at determining to what extent the diverse economic benefits associated with right-to-work laws are actually caused by Right to Work itself. Lilley and Austin, who today are professors of economics at Duke and Harvard, respectively, focused their attention on 'adjacent pairs of counties' in different states where one county had right-to-work protections for employees and the other did not. The Lilley-Austin analysis showed that right-to-work laws boost overall employment substantially, and that their impact is particularly strong in the manufacturing sector, which has a long history of heavy unionization. As Lilley reported in a 2023 follow-up paper for the Manhattan Institute, among the 373 neighboring counties he and his partner had analyzed, there was an average '3.23 percentage-point increase in the manufacturing share of employment' on the right-to-work side of the border. He then noted: 'This difference is substantial, equivalent to a 28 percent increase in manufacturing employment' in right-to-work counties relative to their forced-unionism neighbors. Practically all elected officials in the U.S. claim to support the creation of new manufacturing jobs and the retention of current ones. But the many Big Labor politicians in Washington, D.C., who support the elimination of state right-to-work laws and the expansion of union bosses' forced-unionism privileges to all 50 states are objectively in favor of the destruction of good-paying manufacturing jobs. Stan Greer is senior research associate for the National Institute for Labor Relations Research. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Hill
03-05-2025
- Business
- The Hill
The evidence is in: Forcing workers to join unions destroys good-paying jobs
Contrary to what you hear from most D.C. Beltway politicians and national media pundits, we do still make things in America. Veronique de Rugy, an economist and a senior research fellow at George Mason University's Mercatus Center, pointed out in a recent commentary that the inflation-adjusted value of U.S. industrial production — that is, manufacturing, mining and utilities combined — 'is higher than ever.' Real domestic manufacturing alone is up 177 percent — nearly triple — from 1975. And since 1994, the U.S. output of 'computer and electronic products' specifically has grown by 1,200 percent. Motor vehicle output is up 'well over 60 percent.' U.S. Labor Department data show nationwide payroll manufacturing employment was roughly 12.8 million in 2024. That's substantially higher than in 2009 or 2014, and slightly higher than in 2019, the last year before COVID-19 hit. U.S. Commerce and Labor Department data combined show the average annual compensation (including the value of noncash benefits) for an American factory employee is more than $100,000 a year. So there clearly is a future for good-paying factory jobs in our country. But the data also show state labor policy matters a lot in determining where net new job creation happens. From 2014 to 2024, manufacturing payroll employment grew by roughly 530,000, or 10.4 percent, in the 23 states that had right-to-work laws prohibiting the termination of employees who refuse to join or bankroll a union for that entire decade. Meanwhile, in the 23 states that lacked right-to-work protections for the whole period in question, aggregate manufacturing jobs fell by 0.2 percent, or roughly 12,000. (The four states that changed their policies during that period are excluded from this analysis.) The correlation between right-to-work status and superior growth in manufacturing jobs is robust. The seven states with the greatest percentage gains in manufacturing payrolls over the past decade (Nevada, Florida, Utah, Arizona, Idaho, Georgia and South Carolina) are all right-to-work states. Site selection experts whose career success depends on giving corporations good advice about where to make job-creating investments have confirmed again and again that right-to-work states are superior locations for new factories and expansions alike. In a 2023 interview, for example, Boyd Co. owner John Boyd observed that right-to-work laws have always been 'a recruiting tool for companies.' It's no mystery why, without right-to-work protections, employees are more likely to be forced into one-size-fits-all union contracts that foster work stoppages, wasteful work rules, job featherbedding and a union-label 'hate the boss' mentality. Just a few years ago, when they were still Harvard graduate students, economists Matthew Lilley and Benjamin Austin collaborated on research aimed at determining to what extent the diverse economic benefits associated with right-to-work laws are actually caused by Right to Work itself. Lilley and Austin, who today are professors of economics at Duke and Harvard, respectively, focused their attention on 'adjacent pairs of counties' in different states where one county had right-to-work protections for employees and the other did not. The Lilley-Austin analysis showed that right-to-work laws boost overall employment substantially, and that their impact is particularly strong in the manufacturing sector, which has a long history of heavy unionization. As Lilley reported in a 2023 follow-up pape r for the Manhattan Institute, among the 373 neighboring counties he and his partner had analyzed, there was an average '3.23 percentage-point increase in the manufacturing share of employment' on the right-to-work side of the border. He then noted: 'This difference is substantial, equivalent to a 28 percent increase in manufacturing employment' in right-to-work counties relative to their forced-unionism neighbors. Practically all elected officials in the U.S. claim to support the creation of new manufacturing jobs and the retention of current ones. But the many Big Labor politicians in Washington, D.C., who support the elimination of state right-to-work laws and the expansion of union bosses' forced-unionism privileges to all 50 states are objectively in favor of the destruction of good-paying manufacturing jobs.
Yahoo
24-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Why should Jet Zero pick Piedmont Triad for new facility?
(WGHP) — Jet Zero is considering the Triad as a finalist for developing a manufacturing operation that could yield 10,000 jobs at peak production. FOX8 spoke to an expert about why the Triad is a finalist. John Boyd's career is finding places for big businesses with clients like Pepsi and Boeing, and when it comes to aerospace, he says it's a no-brainer to look at the Triad, given the space at the Piedmont Triad International Airport and the educational pipeline. 'The Triad has emerged as a premier global hub for aerospace business for a number of reasons,' Boyd said. As a second-generation site selection specialist, Boyd says PTI is appealing to the aviation industry all over the world. 'Number one is a great state workforce training program … A great network of community colleges led by … the aviation academy, which helps fill that pipeline of skilled workers,' he said of GTCC. GTCC's Aviation Academy helps train workers in manufacturing, structures, assembly and repair, among other specialties. 'Site readiness. There's a very attractive location here at the PTI that Jet Zero is looking at very closely,' Boyd said. PTI's expansive property is already home to a number of aviation-related businesses 'From Haaco to Marshall Industries to HondaJet to Boom Supersonic,' Boyd said. With that infrastructure already in place at PTI, there's also an allure in innovation. 'You think of Boom Supersonic traveling twice the speed of commercial airlines, and now you have Jet Zero with its cutting-edge sustainability and fuel efficiency. It really sends a signal to the global site selection community that the Triad is able to compete with the top aerospace hubs in the world,' Boyd said. The Triad has also shown it is invested in developing housing, which is an essential tool in recruiting qualified workers. Greensboro is committed to building 10,000 more housing units in the next five years in a plan called Road to 10,000. 'The Greensboro Road to 10,000 is a very powerful economic tool because it really signals collaborations to bring more needed housing for workers, for graduates and engineers and aerospace professionals moving from all over the country,' Boyd said. Jet Zero is expected to narrow down their choices, evaluate economic incentives and make their final decision as quickly as June. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
