From Stark
The U.S. has been losing manufacturing jobs to China, Mexico and other cheaper-labor countries for decades. But millions of Americans still punch the clock and head out to the factory floor every day. Why do some U.S. manufacturers still survive, and even flourish?
This report from Atlantic Monthly focuses on a single fuel-injector manufacturing facility in Greenville, South Carolina to suggest some answers.
I thought this was a terrific piece of reporting. After reading it, I felt as though I had a better understanding of the economic forces that move the world and the people in it.
It’s the cover story in this month’s print edition of the magazine, although the cover photo and headline promoting it provide no clue as to what the article is actually about.
Here is NPR’s version of the same story, broadcast today.
And more on the subject:
“Is American manufacturing dead? You might think so reading most of the nation’s editorial pages or watching the endless laments in the news that “nothing is made in America anymore,” and that our manufacturing jobs have vanished to China, Mexico and South Korea.
Yet the empirical evidence tells a different story–of a thriving and growing U.S. manufacturing sector, and a country that remains by far the world’s largest manufacturer….
Critics view the production of more with less as a net negative—fewer auto plant jobs mean fewer paychecks, they reason. Yet technological improvement is one of the main ingredients of economic growth. It means increasing wages and a higher standard of living for workers and consumers. Displaced workers learn new skill sets, and a new generation of workers finds its skills are put to more productive use….
http://www.aei.org/article/economics/fiscal-policy/labor/the-truth-about-us-manufacturing/
AFY!!theheelotsheepdog!!!
Jeff Rubin predicted this kind of thing several years ago. As the price of bunker fuel increases, the cost of shipping becomes prohibitive. Then it doesn’t matter whether Chinese and Filipino workers can work for less money. Manufacturing is coming back to the US, but it is quite different than the jobs that left in the 80′s under Reagan and in the 90′s under Clinton. Whether or not the American worker can adjust and the American economic system can price these products so people can afford them remains to be seen. Of course the politicians will try to take credit.
AFY,
AEI is populated with architects of Bush’s economic policies, and we know how well those worked. Worse, they’re deniers of climate change:
“Some AEI staff and fellows have been critical of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the international scientific body tasked to evaluate the risk of climate change caused by human activity.[129][130] In February 2007, a number of sources, including the British newspaper The Guardian, reported that the AEI had sent letters to scientists offering $10,000 plus travel expenses and additional payments, asking them to critique the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report.[131]”
Wikipedia.
Terry when you can’t attack the message I’s reckon you are left with attacking the messenger!
AFY!!theheelotsheeodog!!!
Another very good article with solutions on the subject;
“The first presidential report to Congress on manufacturing, Alexander Hamilton’s 1791 Report on Manufactures, was a classic; it shaped American industrial policy for 150 years…
The latest report, the Report to the President on Ensuring American Leadership in Advanced Manufacturing…
It dispels many myths. For example, it rejects the commonly held misconception that the declines in U.S. manufacturing are simply due to wage rates being lower abroad….
Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/2011/07/how_to_restore_americas_manufacturing_innovation.html#ixzz1jSQMoCPV
AFY!!theheelotsheepdog!!!
Afy, You got me. I was being lazy. You cut and paste bs from left-wing blogs and think tanks, and I called out your source, because that was easier than taking the time to pull the threads of your frayed argument from discredited sources. Sue me.
Terry, I don’t know about you but I find it a learning expereince to read/hear opinions from all sides, left/right/inbetween, because no side has a lock on the truth.
Truth speaks without an agenda. The problem is most of us only look for it in very limited locations thus making it a lot harder to locate, IMHO.
AFY!!theheelotsheepdog!!!