dslreports logo
 story category
Sprint Promises 5,000 New Jobs, Trump (Falsely) Takes Credit

Over the holiday break Sprint proclaimed that the company would be bringing 5,000 jobs back to the United States, a move President Elect attempted to take underserved credit for. A Sprint press release says these new jobs "will support a variety of functions across the organization including its Customer Care and Sales teams" over the next few years, though the exact details of the additions wouldn't be made clear until down the road.

Click for full size
Granted, the company has actually been on a tear eliminating thousands of jobs as it struggles with competitors and debt, so whether these jobs would be a net gain is unclear.

These new positions are courtesy of an investment plan Sprint-owner Softbank announced back in October as part of a $100 billion joint technology investment fund with Saudi Arabia.

Despite this plan emerging before Trump was even elected, the President Elect has been trying to take credit for the jobs. He did so again shortly after Sprint's announcement, launching a media event at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida attempting to imply his business accumen was to thank for Sprint announcement.

"I was just called by the head people at Sprint, and they are going to be bringing 5,000 jobs back to the United States," Trump said. "They have taken them from other countries. They are bringing them back to the United States."

Softbank and Sprint, which are trying to get the new President to sign off on a T-Mobile Sprint merger (blocked by regulators in 2014 because it would have reduced competition), are privately denying Trump played a role in the jobs, but publicly encouraging this narrative. Without directly giving him credit, Trump is singled out by name in Sprint's announcement to help bolster the idea the President Elect is to thank for the new jobs.

"We are excited to work with President-Elect Trump and his Administration to do our part to drive economic growth and create jobs in the US," said Sprint CEO Marcelo Claure in a statement. "We believe it is critical for business and government to partner together to create more job opportunities in the US and ensure prosperity for all Americans."

Sprint's not alone, the New York Times noting that more than a few companies clearly expect to extract demands from Trump in exchange for helping him fib about job creation. Trump could certainly refuse these advances, but the kind of folks he's appointing to pick the next FCC boss have made it clear their goal is to defund and defang regulators like the FCC, not to build the kind of agencies that could challenge ISPs or hinder mega-mergers of this type.

Of course job promises in general (especially those tied to mega-merger promises) can often be hot air, and in some instances may never materialize at all. In fact, megamergers of this type usually result in a notable reduction in staff as redundant positions are inevitably eliminated. When asked for more detail on precisely when and where these jobs will materialize, Sprint is telling news outlets that "it's premature to speculate on specifics."

Most recommended from 172 comments



Zenit_IIfx
The system is the solution
Premium Member
join:2012-05-07
Purcellville, VA
·Comcast XFINITY

2 edits

30 recommendations

Zenit_IIfx

Premium Member

Son himself said the deal would not happen under Hillary

»twitter.com/America_1st_ ··· rc%5Etfw


Video of Masayoshi Son stating that if Hillary were President, the deal would be totally off the table.

Reporter: "This is something you would not have done unless Trump were president?"
Son: "Right. Definitely, that is the case."

This little bit of video footage was erased by the MSM.

It's not that Trump made the deal. It's that Trump's proposed tax and regulatory environment has made Son comfortable in putting more money into the US economy. Hillary would have started new policies that would have shrunk investment further; higher taxes were in the cards for everyone. Perhaps more business friendly than Obama was with regards to the FTC and FCC, but not enough with the higher taxes planned.

With a less favorable environment, that money (and jobs) would have went to other countries.

EDIT: People will downvote video evidence. Water is not wet!
DarkSithPro (banned)
join:2005-02-12
Tempe, AZ

12 recommendations

DarkSithPro (banned)

Member

MAGA

Video speaks for itself:

»www.youtube.com/watch?v= ··· 9Xqqc7tw

Packeteers
Premium Member
join:2005-06-18
Forest Hills, NY
Asus RT-AC3100
(Software) Asuswrt-Merlin

1 edit

9 recommendations

Packeteers

Premium Member

obama's $17b gamble

despite a majority against it, obama gambled $17 billion in tarp funds to save the us auto industry from bankruptcy - that took MAJOR ballz, and nearly 300,000 auto industry, distribution repair and dealership jobs were saved and the loan was paid back in full within a few years.

trump's jobs related tweets are pathetic

trump could play golf daily for the next 4 years, and a republican dominated house senate and courts would still pass enough anti regulation legislation to spur short term business growth they can crow about and get reelected - at the expense of long term damage to the planet and human health.

the children of these republicans may like the new jobs, but their grandchildren will despise them for ruining the planet.

i can't wait to see what happens in coal mining towns the next 6-12 months when absolutely nothing changes there.

graycorgi
Premium Member
join:2004-02-23

7 recommendations

graycorgi

Premium Member

Yeah ok

Did everyone commenting suddenly forget that Sprint laid off 2,500 US based customer service positions under a year ago, including closing 4 call centers permanently?

Whether Trump should be able to take credit or not doesn't matter (and this opinion shouldn't be in the headline). Son is clearly full of crap, and that is what the headline should be. That's a factual statement.