CEO: Caterpillar to stay in Illinois, but I think they'll eventually leave

After emerging from an hour long meeting with Governor Pat Quinn, Caterpillar CEO Douglas Oberhelman says the Peoria-based manufacturer will stay in Illinois. In a letter leaked to the media last month, "Cat," one of the state's largest private employers, Oberhelman told Quinn that because of the recent tax increases and a generally unpleasant business climate, his firm was considering leaving Illinois. It has been based in Peoria for over 100 years.

Take it from me. Cat is leaving. They already have assembly plants in other states. In the first half of the last century, New England was the center of the American textile industry. Then they built some plants in the South. Times turned tough, as they always do, and those firms had to close some plants. Which ones? The older and less profitable ones located in hostile business climates. The ones in New England.
Cat's Peoria plants could end up like the Lowell National Historical Park in Massachusetts. Which would give five National Park rangers a job.

It might be a decade or two from now, but Cat will be saying "bye-bye, now" to the Prairie State.

Related posts:

Quinn tax may lead to Caterpillar to leave its Illinois cocoon
Upper Peninsula Upventure: Keweenaw National Historical Park, Quincy, Part One
Upper Peninsula Upventure: Keweenaw National Historical Park, Calumet

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