Free Republic

The prospect of hanging, as Samuel Johnson observed, "concentrates the mind wonderfully." We're counting on that kind of concentration to keep us from falling off the infamous fiscal cliff, which doesn't sound like fun. But while the Republicans and Democrats argue about whom to blame if they let the worst happen, we might look outside the box to find something beyond partisan gloom and economic doom. We've given up our role as the manufacturing colossus, which blinds us to the reality that the times, they are a-changing -- again. "For decades," writes James Fallows in The Atlantic magazine, "every trend...

One key difference between the U.S. economy today and that of 15 or 20 years ago is the labor environment—not just wages in factories, but the degree of flexibility displayed by unions and workers. Many observers would say these changes reflect a loss of power and leverage by workers, and they would be right. But management, more keenly aware of offshoring’s perils, is also trying to create a different (and better) factory environment. Hourly employees increasingly participate in workplace decision making in ways that are more like what you find in white-collar technology companies. In late 2008, Dirk Bowman and...

Buried on page B7 of today's Wall Street Journal (but highlighted by different editors in the front page "What's News" section, is an item entitled "GE's Work Force Rose in 2011 First Time in Years." The real story is that all of GE's employment growth was overseas. That might be embarrassing for a company whose CEO serves as President Obama's cheerleader to the Fortune 500, and business-bona-fides fig leaf to the public. The President hopes to draw attention to GOP presidential hopeful Mitt Romney's outsourcing to save dying companies at Bain Capital. You may recall the President's recent jab at...

Home Economics of Anxious Times: Dyeing Your Hair in the Kitchen Sink By Ylan Q. Mui Washington Post Staff Writer Thursday, February 26, 2009; A01 The economic downturn is forcing America's households to learn a tough lesson: how to fend for themselves. Sales of starter sewing kits have shot up by 30 percent at Wal-Mart as families forgo the tailor. Landscaping companies have suffered a 7 percent drop in revenue over the past year. Procter & Gamble said that it has noticed more questions from customers about how to dye their hair at home to match salon coloring. The recession...

Yesterday Ford Motor Company announced it will sell its Jaguar and Land Rover divisions to India's Tata Group. Upon the closing of this transaction, the many Ford associates currently working in these divisions in the United States will join the ranks of Americans who work at insourcing companies -- i.e., at U.S. affiliates of foreign multinational firms. Foreign direct investment (FDI) has long been a source of strength for the American economy. In 2005, insourcing companies employed nearly 5.1 million Americans, 4.4% of the private-sector labor force. Beyond their employment, insourcing companies perform large amounts of the crucial activities that...

With the dollar as weak as ever, European companies are trying to avoid disaster. Factories in North American are becoming more attractive, and over the weekend, both Airbus and VW hinted they might take the plunge. The euro's seemingly inexorable drive toward the $1.50 mark may have slowed down for now, but companies in Europe seem to have sped up their search for strategies in dealing with the newly weak dollar. European jet-maker Airbus and auto manufacturer Volkswagen both have decided on a solution: The two companies are actively looking into building factories in the United States. According to a...

European, Asian and Canadian companies are taking advantage of the weaker dollar to buy their U.S. counterparts at a record pace, increasing investment in the United States but also raising fears about a potential loss of jobs and autonomy. "We could be looking at the world's largest tag sale if we continue to see declines in the dollar," said Donald Klepper-Smith, chief economist at DataCore Partners. In the latest large deal aided by a weak dollar, Commerce Bancorp, which is based in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, agreed Tuesday to be acquired by Toronto-Dominion Bank of Canada in a cash-and-shares deal...

A Dubai company expects to complete the purchase of 1,300 acres in Orangeburg County in the next several weeks that it hopes to use for a complex of warehouses that could employ 8,000 or more people, a company adviser said Wednesday. The complex along I-95 would tie loads of cargo arriving and departing from the ports of Charleston and Savannah with customers across the Southeast. The $600 million project would be built by Jafza International, a subsidiary of Dubai World, which is owned by the royal family of Dubai in the Persian Gulf. Buying the land could be completed as...

San Antonio-based AT&T Inc. announced plans Wednesday to bring 175 call center jobs once outsourced overseas back to the United States, part of a group of 5,000 outsourced jobs company officials plan to fold back into its operations. The new call center, to be located at AT&T Arkansas' headquarters in Little Rock, will help callers who have AT&T Yahoo! High Speed Internet services. The new union-represented jobs will bring AT&T Arkansas up to 2,800 employees with a $135 million payroll, said president Ed Drilling. "These jobs are currently outsourced to other companies and a lot of the work is actually...

It's been a quarter-century since author John Naisbitt blithely described manufacturing as a "declining sport" that Americans could easily offshore to Asia. Since then obituaries for U.S. manufacturing, both mournful and enraged, have been written many times...Snip... Manufacturing's role in promoting job and income growth is often understated. Although overall industrial jobs have diminished by almost five million since the late 1970s, the loss has been concentrated largely in lower-skilled positions. The number of higher-skilled positions, with a median hourly wage of $24, jumped by more than 36% between 1983 and 2002 to nearly 4.5 million, according to a 2006...

BEIJING -- The 22-year-old was a freelance prostitute. Henna-haired, eyebrows painted and dressed no differently than a college student, she moved from beauty salon to beauty salon, taking calls on her mobile phone from salon managers when they couldn't find enough girls for all their customers. She said she wasn't as well paid as call girls in some of Beijing's toniest hotels. Nor was she as poor as the women on construction sites, who sometimes service scores of migrant workers a night for barely more than $1 per customer. Two years ago, when she worked in her native Shandong province,...

Toyota Motor to build a parts factory in Mississippi Japanese automaker Toyota has announced plans to establish a parts factory in the southern US state of Mississippi. The company is going to invest around 200 million-dollar on this upcoming plant in the USA. Toyota said in a statement that Toyota Auto Body will establish Auto Parts Manufacturing Mississippi Inc. in August. They plan to hire 260 people for this plant which is expected to start production by 2010. This new plant will operate near a Toyota assembly plant which is already under construction in the village of Blue Springs. This...

Saturday February 10, 6:08 AM Honda to build new jet in North Carolina WILMINGTON, North Carolina, Feb 9 (Reuters) - Honda Aircraft Co. Inc. will build its new light jet, the HondaJet, at Piedmont Triad International Airport in Greensboro, North Carolina, Gov. Michael Easley's office said on Friday. The Honda Motor Co. Ltd. subsidiary will invest up to $100 million over the next five years to build an aircraft manufacturing plant and expand the Greensboro operation it established in August to oversee production, certification, sales and service of the aircraft, Easley said. He described the HondaJet as a lightweight private...

Wholesale sellout of core strategic assets to foreign acquirers: according to official figures, more than 8,000 American companies have been sold to foreign corporations in the last 10 years for at least $1.2 trillion (US Dept of Commerce) Decline of vital industries through bankruptcy, foreign predatory competition, and foreign acquisition: foreign interests now own a majority of US industries in areas like mining, publishing/movies, cement, mineral manufacturing, rubber and plastics, and engine manufacturing and own substantial portions in areas like pharmaceuticals, glass, coal, chemicals, industrial machinery, transportation equipment, petroleum, and others (Internal Revenue Service) Inability to manufacture competitively: American...

(06/09/2006 10:51 AM EDT) WASHINGTON — The Commerce Department has withdrawn proposed changes to export rules that would have tighten restrictions on foreign researchers working in the U.S. The department's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) said last week it is withdrawing two "deemed" exports proposals that originated with the Defense Department. They would have limited foreign researchers' access to sensitive U.S. technologies. According to the Commerce Department, "An export of technology or source code (except encryption source code) is 'deemed' to take place when it is released to a foreign national within the United States." The bureau said in...

Honda Motor Co. plans to build a new automobile factory in North America, according to a news report Tuesday, as the Japanese carmaker tries to bring supply in line with surging sales. The assembly plant would be Tokyo-based Honda's sixth in a region that accounts for about half the company's annual global sales. The location of the factory is not yet decided but it is slated to open in 2009 with a capacity of 150,000 vehicles a year, the Nihon Keizai newspaper said, without citing sources for the information. Honda spokesman Shigeki Endo declined to comment on the report, which...

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — As Korean automaker Hyundai invited visitors to tour its first U.S. plant, deliveries for the first U.S.-built Sonatas were arriving at dealerships in the U.S. and Canada. Hyundai held a lavish grand opening of its new plant here Friday, at which it meshed Korean and U.S. culture. Korean dancers and drummers performed, along with local high school marching bands. The event drew 4,000 guests, including the nearly 2,000 plant employees, former President George Bush, and other Alabama and U.S. government officials, as well as Hyundai executives, Korean government officials and Korean media. The Hyundai move takes a...

If Frank Martin’s plan comes together, the engineer turned business consultant will be producing and distributing fine Belgian chocolates in a few years from Greenville. Martin, 57, a native of Belgium who has lived in the United States for 25 years, is planning to move to Greenville in about a year. He and his brother, Jean-Marie Martin, have an agreement with Belgian chocolatiere Jean-Philippe Darcis to distribute high quality pastry and Belgian chocolates under the Darcis brand. They have set up JC Distribution USA to handle the Darcis venture. Frank Martin said he is talking with venture capitalists about financing...

...Insourcing is what happens when foreign-headquartered multinationals operate subsidiaries in the U.S. These companies contribute both to U.S. economic growth and living standards.... Insourcing provided jobs for more than 5.4 million U.S. workers in 2002, or nearly 5% of total private-sector employment. These are good-paying jobs, too. Payroll came to more than $307 billion -- or 6% of all private-sector compensation. The average annual compensation at such companies was a tad over $56,000, or some 31% more than the average annual private U.S. compensation. The internal operations of insourcing companies also contribute to research and development and to capital investment......

American Eurocopter has been awarded a $75 million contract by the Department of Homeland Security to supply aircraft to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency, American Eurocopter said Monday. Grand Prairie-based American Eurocopter is a subsidiary of Eurocopter, a manufacturer of commercial helicopters, and EADS North America, the North American operations of EADS, the second largest aerospace and defense company in the world