Posted on 10/05/2019 7:19:28 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Reedsburg, Wis. -- It’s not the worst of times in Sauk County, Wisconsin. It may even be the best of times in this bucolic mix of dairy farms and vacation homes, factory workers and professionals.
But after two years of strong economic growth, the outlook here in this battleground county in a battleground state is softening.
“Plateauing,” says Kurt Muchow, a community development consultant for Wisconsin municipalities.
“A little bit of angst,” says Ed White, executive director of the Sauk County Development Corp. in Baraboo.
And a little bit of mystery, too. After strong job growth in President Donald Trump’s first two years, 2019 is proving to be the year of the slowdown nationally, due to the trade war with China and the fading of the stimulus from tax cuts. The weak unemployment growth is particularly noticeable in the blue-collar industries in the states most hotly contested in the 2016 presidential election. Of the 10 states with the tightest election margins, four states are on track to lose goods-producing jobs this year if current trends continue and two others will see growth in those industries cut by 75% or more.
(Excerpt) Read more at csmonitor.com ...
Economics shapes politics, but as talk of a manufacturing slowdown grows, people in one potentially pivotal state aren’t seeing it.
We have several small factories where I live, ranging from jigsaw puzzles to printing press rollers to titanium components for the military to the red goo they put on Makers Mark Bourbon bottles
All of them have been hiring for months, and a couple of them have had to build more parking lot for their employees
If a Democrat takes the Executive Office in 2020, the economy will collapse. The jobs will be gone. Enormous numbers of people will be laid off.
with a background in industrial automation - a couple of points:
1. Rural midwest communities like this have a very high quality workforce because the vast majority graduate high school and have worked on the family farm or held other jobs. They speak intelligible English and have good “soft skills”
2. These communities offer a quality of life based on traditional values. Not of interest to millenials looking for a Starbucks on every corner and urban nightlife, but very much of value to many young professionals with families.
3. The rationale for automation is often not based on reducing labor cost. For any company selling to automotive or aerospace industries, automation is the only really viable way to meet six sigma and higher quality requirements. Robots will do the same thing exactly the same way every time, humans are, well human.
4. There are other factors as mentioned here in regard to the dairy robots. Automation can do things where humans would not be efficient, such as scratching a cow’s back whenever it wants - that increases productivity. Think about how an ATM provides 24/7 bank access - no bank is going to staff a drive-thru with tellers in case someone wants $100 at 3AM.
The company I work for is currently building two new plants and have hired close to 400 new employees in 2019, with plans for 300 more through next year.
What down turn?
Decreases IN THE RATE OF GROWTH is the issue.
Example (not actual numbers of course):
If growth from 2017 to 2018 was 100% (double what it was) and then from 2018 to 2019 only increased half as much (50%) it could be said that the rate of growth was half of what it had been.
Sounds really bad, doesn’t it? But it’s not.
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