Bounty, the Quicker Picker Upper.
Upper. >>> REMEMBER WHEN DONALD TRUMP
LOVED HARLEY DAVIDSON?
WELL, NOW DONALD TRUMP HAS DONE
SERIOUS DAMAGE TO THAT COMPANY.
AND I DON’T JUST MEAN A NASTY
TWEET.
TWEET. THE DAY AFTER HIS INAUGURATION
WHEN PRESIDENT TRUMP SAW THE
LARGEST INAUGURATION PROTESTS IN
HISTORY IN WASHINGTON AND EVERY
ONE OF THE 50 STATES AROUND THE
WORLD.
WORLD. HE WAS AFRAID AND HIS WHITE
HOUSE STAFF WAS AFRAID -- THEY
WERE AFRAID TO SEND HIM OUT IN
AMERICA WHERE WHATEVER HE WANTED
TO SAY MIGHT BE DROWNED OUT BY
PROTESTERS THAT IS WHY HIS STAFF
CANCELLED HIS VISIT TO WISCONSIN
TO THE HARLEY DAVIDSON STAFF
THERE.
THERE. SO HE INVITED THE EXECUTIVES TO
THE WHITE HOUSE TO CELEBRATE OUR
ICONIC MOTORCYCLE MANUFACTURER.
THE PRESIDENT USED THE
OPPORTUNITY TO TELL A LIE ABOUT
THE HISTORY OF THE COMPANY.
SAYING IN THE EARLY 1980s,
HARLEY DAVIDSON WAS DROWNING
COMPLETELY BECAUSE OF UNFAIR
COMPETITION FROM FOREIGN
MOTORCYCLE MANUFACTURERS.
MOTORCYCLE MANUFACTURERS. THE PRESIDENT SAID THE FOREIGN
MANUFACTURERS, ESPECIALLY THE
JAPANESE WERE DONALD TRUMPING
MOTORCYCLES.
MOTORCYCLES. NOW DUMPING DOESN’T SOUND LIKE A
TECHNICAL TERM, BUT IT IS.
IT MEANS SELLING A PRODUCT IN A
FOREIGN MARKET FOR LESS THAN IT
COSTS TO MANUFACTURE THAT
PRODUCT.
PRODUCT. BUT THE TRUTH IS HARLEY
DAVIDSON, WHICH WAS THE LARGEST
MANUFACTURER IN THE WORLD BY
1927, WAS BY 1980 IS ONLY
AMERICAN MOTORCYCLE MANUFACTURER
AND THEY MADE THE WORST
MOTORCYCLES SOLD IN THE MARKET
THEN.
THEN. JAPANESE MOTORCYCLES WERE BETTER
AND GERMAN BUILT BMWs WERE
BETTER.
BETTER. I OWNED A COUPLE BRITISH
MOTORCYCLES IN THAT DAY, A BSA
AND A NOR TON.
THAT’S THE BSA ON THE LEFT THERE
OF YOUR SCREEN.
AND THE BLUE ONE ON THE RIGHT IS
THE NORTON WHICH WAS ONE OF MY
FAVORITES UNTIL I TOTALLED IT IN
A VERY HIGH SPEED ACCIDENT IN
BOSTON WHICH I WAS LUCKY TO WALK
AWAY FROM.
AWAY FROM. AND OWNING THOSE MOTORCYCLES IN
THOSE DAYS MEANT I WAS WILLING
TO PUT UP WITH A LITTLE OIL
LEAKING HERE AND THERE.
BUT I WOULD NOT CONSIDER OWNING
A HARLEY DAVIDSON BECAUSE THEY
LEAKED A LOT OF OIL ALL OVER THE
PLACE.
PLACE. YOU HAD TO BE A GOOD MECHANIC TO
OWN A HARLEY IN THOSE DAYS.
THE JAPANESE BIKES AND THE BMW,
THEY DIDN’T LEAK A DROP OF OIL.
THEY WERE BRILLIANTLY ENGINEERED
MACHINES, THE SAME WAS TRUE IN
THE AMERICAN AUTOMOBILE MARKET
IN THE 1980s, AMERICAN CARS WERE
MOSTLY JUNK THEN AND JAPANESE
CARS AND GERMAN CARS WERE MUCH
HIGHER QUALITY.
HIGHER QUALITY. HERE’S HOW THE CEO OF HARLEY
DAVIDSON DESCRIBED THAT PERIOD
IN HARLEY’S HISTORY WHEN IT WAS
ON ITS WAY OUT OF BUSINESS.
FOR YEARS WE TRIED TO FIGURE OUT
WHY THE JAPANESE WERE BEATING US
SO BADLY, FIRST WE THOUGHT IT
WAS THEIR CULTURE, THEN WE
THOUGHT IT WAS AUTOMATION, THEN
WE THOUGHT IT WAS DUMPING.
FINALLY WE REALIZED THE PROBLEM
WAS US NOT THEM.
SO HARLEY DESIGNERS AND
ENGINEERS ACTUALLY STUDIED THE
JAPANESE MANUFACTURERING MODEL
TO FIGURE OUT HOW TO MAKE A
BETTER MOTORCYCLE AND THEY DID.
AND BY THE LATE 1980s WHEN
HARLEY DAVIDSON’S FINALLY
STOPPED LEAKING OIL, I BOUGHT MY
FIRST HARLEY DAVIDSON AND THEN
TRADED THAT IN FOR ANOTHER
HARLEY AND HAVE NEVER LOOKED
BACK AT FOREIGN MOTORCYCLES.
HARLEY DAVIDSON IS A STRONG
COMPANY AGAIN MAKING A GREAT
PRODUCT NOT DESPITE
INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION BUT
BECAUSE OF INTERNATIONAL
COMPETITION.
COMPETITION. THE JAPANESE AND THE GERMANS
FORCED THE AMERICANS TO MAKE A
BETTER MOTORCYCLE, AND THE
AMERICANS ROSE TO THAT
CHALLENGE.
CHALLENGE. IF YOU’RE DRIVING AN AMERICAN
CAR TONIGHT, YOU ARE DRIVING A
BETTER CAR BECAUSE OF
INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION.
INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION. BECAUSE THE JAPANESE AND THE
GERMANS HAVE FORCED AMERICAN
CARS TO BE BETTER.
MUCH BETTER.
MUCH BETTER. TEN YEARS AGO I TRADED IN A BMW
FOR A FORD FUSION AND HAVEN’T
HAD A FOREIGN CAR SINCE.
IMAGINE HOW BAD AMERICAN CARS
WOULD BE NOW IF THEY NEVER HAD
TO RISE TO THE CHALLENGE OF
COMPETITION FROM HIGH-QUALITY
JAPANESE AND GERMAN CARS.
DONALD TRUMP UNDERSTANDS NONE OF
THAT.
THAT. TO HIM INTERNATIONAL TRADE HAS
NO COMPLEXITIES AND NO
SURPRISING UNANTICIPATED
SURPRISING UNANTICIPATED CONSEQUENCES.
CONSEQUENCES. IF DONALD TRUMP TRIED TO GO TO
THE HARLEY DAVIDSON ENGINE
FACTORY IN WISCONSIN TODAY OR
THE ASSEMBLY PLANT IN YORK,
PENNSYLVANIA TODAY, THERE WOULD
BE PROTESTS BUT THEY WOULD BE
PROTESTS BY PEOPLE WORKING AT
HARLEY DAVIDSON WHO WILL NOW
LOSE THEIR JOBS BECAUSE OF
DONALD TRUMP.
DONALD TRUMP. THE EUROPEAN UNION, WHICH IS
HARLEY DAVIDSON’S SINGLE LARGEST
FOREIGN MARKET HAS IMPOSED NEW
TARIFFS ON AMERICAN MOTORCYCLES,
WHICH IS TO SAY ON HARLEY
DAVIDSON IN RETALIATION TO THE
ILLEGAL TARIFFS THAT DONALD
TRUMP HAS IMPOSED ON EUROPE WITH
THE FALSE CLAIM THAT THOSE
TARIFFS ARE TO PROTECT OUR
NATIONAL SECURITY.
NATIONAL SECURITY. HARLEY DAVIDSON’S CORPORATE
RESPONSE TO THE NEW HIGH
EUROPEAN TARIFFS ON MOTORCYCLES
MADE IN AMERICA IS TO SIMPLY
MOVE SOME OF THEIR MANUFACTURING
CAPACITY TO FOREIGN COUNTRIES SO
THAT HARLEY DAVIDSONS SOLD IN
EUROPE WOULD NOT BE HARLEY
DAVIDSONS MADE IN THE USA AND
THEY WILL THEREFORE AVOID THE
TRUMP TARIFFS AND SELL AT A
COMPETITIVE PRICE IN EUROPE.
AND THAT MEANS HARLEY DAVIDSON
WILL CUT ITS MANUFACTURING
CAPACITY IN WISCONSIN AND
PENNSYLVANIA IN ORDER TO
INCREASE ITS MANUFACTURING
CAPACITY IN FOREIGN COUNTRIES.
SO DONALD TRUMP’S TARIFFS HAVE
SUCCEEDED ALREADY IN ONE THING
ONLY, IN SENDING HARLEY DAVIDSON
JOBS OUT OF THE UNITED STATES.
EXACTLY THE OPPOSITE OF WHAT
DONALD TRUMP WANTS TO DO.
DONALD TRUMP ONCE FAMOUSLY SAID
THAT NOBODY KNEW THAT HEALTH
CARE COULD BE SO COMPLICATED, OF
COURSE, EVERYONE KNEW HEALTH
CARE COULD BE SO COMPLICATED,
ONLY DONALD TRUMP DIDN’T KNOW.
AND THE ONLY THING THAT I EVER
ENCOUNTERED WHEN I WAS WORKING
IN GOVERNMENT THAT IS MORE
COMPLICATED THAN THE HEALTH CARE
SYSTEM IS OUR SYSTEM OF
INTERNATIONAL TRADE, WHICH IS
FILLED WITH UNINTENDED
CONSEQUENCES AND
CONSEQUENCES AND COUNTERINTUITIVE OUTCOMES THAT
DONALD TRUMP IS INCAPABLE OF
UNDERSTANDING.
UNDERSTANDING. THE STOCK MARKET SPENT THE DAY
IN DECLINE TODAY BECAUSE OF THIS
KIND OF NEWS ABOUT THE TRUMP
TARIFFS FROM HARLEY DAVIDSON.
HARLEY DAVIDSON’S STOCK ENDED
THE DAY 6% LOWER THAN IT BEGAN
THE DAY.
THE DAY. IF YOU’RE A HARLEY DAVIDSON
WORKER WITH HARLEY DAVIDSON
STOCK IN YOUR RETIREMENT FUND,
EVERY $100 WORTH OF HARLEY
DAVIDSON STOCK THAT YOU WOKE UP
WITH THIS MORNING IS NOW WORTH
$94 THANKS TO DONALD TRUMP.
THERE IS NO ONE WORKING AT A
HARLEY DAVIDSON ASSEMBLY LINE
WHO DOESN’T UNDERSTAND
INTERNATIONAL TRADE BETTER THAN
THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED
STATES.
Oh, you brought Butch.