Free Republic

Are we be better off today with the thousands of U.S. factories that have shut down and millions of American jobs lost and the trillions in accumulated debt that we've run up in the last couple decades of free trade? And, of course, this is due to many factors including such things as: Big government Regulations High taxes Unions driving up costs Cheap labor overseas Fewer regulations overseas Lower taxes overseas Trade deficits etc., And doubly exasperated by poor trade deals? Or is this all a myth? Are we better off with cheaper foreign (cheap) goods, fewer U.S. factories, fewer...

Breitbart) – Veteran pollster Pat Caddell warns that Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s vote for the North American Free Trade Agreement during his tenure in Congress could cost him both his approval rating as governor and the critical state primary. “I believe — I haven’t gone back and looked — but I think he was in Congress in ’93 and if so, I’d bet you he voted for NAFTA. How much do you want to bet? Somebody ought to look that one up. That’s the real point this morning that could change the election in Ohio,” he told Breitbart News executive...

HP wants to drive the "next industrial revolution" and spark a change in the way products are manufactured with its new 3D printers. The company's first 3D printers will ship later this year, said Cathie Lesjak, chief financial officer for HP, speaking at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media and Telecom Conference this week. HP first announced 3D printers in 2014, and is now preparing for the big launch. HP is looking to hire materials experts, mechanical engineers, managers and sales people for its push into 3D printing. HP has a rich history in printing and is entering a 3D printing...

The Institute for Supply Management’s Non-Manufacturing Index fell for the fourth straight month to a two-year low in February, signaling slower growth and a slight decline in jobs. The service-sector gauge dipped just 0.1 point to 53.4, the lowest since February 2014 but... Meanwhile, factory orders rose 1.6% in January... Manufacturers such as General Electric (GE) and United Technologies (UTX) have suffered from a strong dollar and weak overseas demand. A struggling energy sector weighed on staff reductions last month, as Challenger reported 61,599 layoffs, down 18% from January’s number. Energy industry layoffs were 25,051, up 24.6% from the previous...

TOKYO — Billionaire businessman Donald Trump’s presidential campaign hinges on Americans who share Trump’s assessment that the United States is losing all over the world. In Mexico, we’re outsmarted on the border. In China, it’s trade and currency manipulation. In the Middle East, it’s the terrorist masterminds of ISIS.

We’ve written quite a bit about the decline of America’s once proud manufacturing industry which is now but a shadow of its former self and long ago ceded its place in the public’s heart and mind to the service industry...And if it was already bad, it's getting worse.

Unless you live under a rock, you must have heard how Carrier made national news over a pending plant closure. Whether you sell Carrier, or not, and whether you like Carrier, or not, you should defend the manufacturer because that’s defending the industry, your industry. What Happened? Carrier announced the closure of its Indianapolis plant with production transferred to Monterrey, Mexico. During a meeting where the closure was announced to employees, one employee whipped out a smart phone and recorded three and half minutes of the announcement, posted it on YouTube, which was picked up by Drudge, and went viral....

1/3 of South Carolina's Manufacturing Jobs Have Disappeared Since NAFTA AP Photo/Paul SancyaAP Photo/Paul Sancya by JULIA HAHN 19 Feb 2016 919 At a CNN town hall Thursday, businessman and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump once again put the issue of manufacturing front and center in the 2016 race. When CNN's Anderson Cooper pressed Trump on whether a U.S. president ought to be sending cease and desist letters and whether he would continue to do so as president, Trump said, "maybe to China" -- pointing out the extraordinary job losses Americans have experienced through trade policies: No... I would be...

Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen faced what may have seemed like an absurd line of questioning on Capitol Hill this week: Has the Fed considered negative interest rates? It's not a fantasy. At central banks around the world, negative benchmark interest rates have become the new normal, leading to some unusual paradoxes. In Denmark, instead of paying interest on their mortgages, many borrowers have been receiving payments from banks on their home loans. On the flip side, some Swiss bank customers have had to pay banks to keep cash in savings accounts. Yellen told Congress Thursday, following negative moves by central banks in Europe and elsewhere, the Fed has...

I agree with Obama for allowing a U.S. corporation to open a factory in Cuba Obama just gave approval for Cleber LLC, an Alabama-based company that builds tractors, to open a factory in Cuba. This will be the first new U.S. factory to be built and operated in Cuba in over 50 years.As a libertarian, I totally agree with Obama on this issue. Bringing global capitalism to Cuba is a wonderful idea.The average Cuban citizen earns $20 per month.Usually, when U.S. corporations open up factories in poor countries, in order to attract workers, they usually pay between two and five times...

Si Se Puede!It’s not just China and Mexico that are taking US jobs… Now, thanks to Barack Obama, Cuba will be building American tractors.Cleber Tractors is building a tractor plant in Cuba.USA Today reported: The Obama administration approved the first U.S. factory to be built and operated in Cuba in more than 50 years, in the latest sign of the rapidly changing relationship between the United States and the communist nation.Cleber LLC, an Alabama-based company that builds tractors for small farms, was notified by the Treasury Department that it could open a facility in Cuba. Co-founder Saul Berenthal said the...

INDIANAPOLIS -- Donald Trump is weighing in on the news that Carrier is moving from Indianapolis to Mexico. 1,400 workers at the heating, cooling, air conditioning, and refrigeration company got word Wednesday that the plant was being relocated to Monterrey.

Here are the workers at Carrier Air Conditioning equipment being told they are moving the manufacturing to Mexico.

<p>In a move guaranteeing that 2,100 workers will be out of a job, two Indiana plants have plans to move operations to Mexico.</p> <p>The companies, who make products for heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC), will begin layoffs within the next two years.</p>

This is a major economic blow to Indianapolis' struggling manufacturing sector. One of the City's largest employers, Carrier, announced it's closing its manufacturing facility on Indianapolis' west side, eliminating 1,400 jobs. The layoffs will begin in 2017 and be spread over three years according to the Indianapolis Star. Carrier's president of HVAC systems, Chris Nelson, says the move is part of the "continued migration of the HVAC industry to Mexico, including our suppliers and competitors, and ongoing cost and pricing pressures driven, in part, by new regulatory requirements." Let me guess that more than a few of these workers at...

Published reports are saying that Ford plans to build a new auto plant in Mexico, with plans to more than double production there Ford plans to build a new assembly complex in San Luis Potosi and expand an existing facility near Mexico City, according to The Wall Street Journal. The Journal says the Dearborn, Michigan, carmaker will add 500,000 units of annual capacity there, beginning in 2018. That would be more than double last year's production in that country. The newspaper cites unnamed people briefed on the plan. Costs for the project likely will exceed $1 billion, people familiar with...

One of the cornerstones of Donald Trump's campaign has been the fact that millions of jobs have been lost to overseas industries because it is often too expensive to do business in America anymore. Many liberals have criticized Trump for these statements, but the Wall Street Journal recently reported that Ford's latest production move showed that Trump was exactly right. Ford planned to build a new assembly plant in Mexico in order to produce 500,000 more vehicles in Mexico than it currently does. Last year Ford's Mexican output was 433,000 vehicles, which translates to about 14 percent of its total...

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - An Indianapolis manufacturing facility is moving operations to Mexico, impacting 1,400 jobs. Carrier, currently located on West Morris Street, will be moving operations to Monterrey, Mexico beginning in 2017. The move is expected to be complete in 2019. A release by the company said there would be no immediate impact on jobs. The company says the proposal to move is subject to "discussions with local union representatives." "This decision is difficult and we recognize the impact on employees, their families and the community. We are committed to ensuring that our employees are treated respectfully and to working...

How would you react to the following news stories? Former Shoppers Fined $5,000 for No Longer Frequenting Nearby Mall Residents of Anytown, USA were surprised to receive invoices in the mail from their local county government Friday. The county identified people who used to shop in the local mall but, due to reports of muggings, rapes, and vehicle theft at the mall, switched to shopping at other, safer malls, or just doing it online. The thousand dollar a year fine was based on the estimated amount of revenue the mall says it lost due to their departure. Professional economists, when...

Do you see the puppet strings? The plot to disarm Americans and suspend the 2nd Amendment is working with furious pace. But it is anything but head on. The 2nd Amendment makes gun ownership an inalienable right and guarantees armed and formidable populace. The NRA and other lobbies have gun rights firmly entrenched in the Republican party. So the other side works the back door. Infiltration, sabotage and other dirty tricks. Is that what is happening? By all appearances, Soros, the elite wolf in sheep's clothing has been investing in firearms companies not to profit from them, but to destroy...