Once again, the Trump administration does not have to be ...

Once again, the Trump administration does not have to be competent for its chaos-monkey nature to wind up doing enormous damage: Gabe Gutierrez and Annie Rose Ramos: Harley-Davidson workers stunned by plant closure after tax cut: "Tim Primeaux has worked at the Harley-Davidson plant in Kansas City, Missouri, for 17 years. He was sure he was going to retire from the company. That all changed when Harley-Davidson told its 800 employees in January that the plant will be closing next year. Operations will be shifted to the motorcycle manufacturer's facility in York, Pennsylvania...

...���We did everything Harley-Davidson asked us to do,��� said Primeaux, a welder. ���To have it all blow up in your face is kind of disappointing.��� Days later, Harley-Davidson announced a dividend increase and a stock buyback plan to reward shareholders, repurchasing 15 million of its shares, valued at nearly $700 million.... House Speaker Paul Ryan visited a Harley plant in Wisconsin in September and said, ���Tax reform can put American manufacturers and American companies like Harley-Davidson on a much better footing to compete in the global economy and keep jobs in America.��� Many Harley-Davidson workers wondered if the tax cut would trickle down to help employees....

The company calls the closing of the Kansas City plant a tough decision but says domestic sales are down and it needed to ���address the excess capacity in the U.S.���... Rick Pence, who started working for Harley-Davidson more than 21 years ago, recalls his elation at landing the job. ���When I got hired, I felt like I won the lottery,��� said Pence. Primeaux said that if he could deliver a message to Harley CEO Matthew Levatich, it would be to keep the factory in Kansas City not for him but for his three girls. ���If my girls want to work there it���s a good place to work,��� said Primeaux, adding that the plant closure has not affected his support for President Donald Trump. ���I blame the company more than I blame the president.��� ���We gotta accept it," said Pence, who turns 60 next year. ���It���s truly hard���...

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