Op-Ed The Kia news keeps getting better for West Point, Georgia

Where are all the Republicans and Tea Party activists that love to opine against government intervention in the economy?  The subsidies and perks--aka "socialism"--that brought Kia to West Point should be decried by anyone that believes in free market capitalism.  

Editorial from the Newnan Times-Herald:

The opening of the Kia plant in West Point, Ga., has changed the face of the small town and impacted the Interstate 85 corridor through West Georgia and East Alabama. And the good news keeps getting better as Kia continues to expand its operation at West Point.

Kia announced plans for the Georgia plant in March 2006. Vehicle production began on Nov. 16, 2009. Success of the Georgia Kia operation has been immense. A second production shift has been added, and this weekend, giant equipment from Korea to build a new stamping press is being trucked from the Port of Savannah along interstate highways to the West Point plant in order to allow another expansion.

This additional expansion is necessary to meet the demand for Kia Georgia vehicles.

Due to our success we will hire as many as 1,000 additional team members throughout 2011 to produce top quality vehicles adding strength to the U.S. economy,” said Randy Jackson, Kia’s director of human resources in Georgia.

When the West Point plant gets to full capacity it will have the capability of building 300,000 vehicles annually. Jackson said, “We expect the number of jobs created by KMMG and suppliers will amount to more than 10,000.

That’s an amazing success story for Kia, for Georgia and especially for the small town of West Point. Before Kia arrived, West Point had fallen on hard economic times because of the massive shutdown of textile plants in the area.