No, actually I don’t feel much better. But I’ve been wanting to use the “finish with Windex” line for some time, and the butthole Belgians gave me the excuse.
Years ago I worked for the Stewart-Warner corporation, which had an operation in Belgium that paralleled the operation we had in Indianapolis. The thought was that the company would save money by building these 3 and 4 ton monster air separation cores in Europe (thus saving import duties, shipping costs, etc). It ended up being such a boondoggle due to European employment laws that they closed down the plant in 1980 and moved all of the work back to Indy. Cost them millions in “future earnings” payments.
Unfortunately they brought the plant manager back to Indy, too, and he managed to run the operation into the ground within about 3 years (I was long gone by then, I’d gone back to college). But how often do you hear about manufacturing jobs coming back to the states from overseas?
A "surly curmudgeon[], suspicious and lacking in altruism." (Robert A. Heinlein)