'The lights are going off' Lost jobs in Rockford, Ill., underscore free trade issue

The Boston Globe ^ | 10/20/2003 | Mary Leonard

[riri]

ROCKFORD, Ill. -- On April 15, Ingersoll International Co., a manufacturing mainstay here for 112 years, told its 300 employees to stop work midshift because it was shutting down. The company, one of two in the nation that had produced drilling machines to build F-35 fighter jets, had recently lost a defense contract to a Spanish firm and had been staggered by fast-growing competition from Asia.

[SwankyC]

My grandfather worked in a factory and did everything possible to insure that his kids would move up into the white collar world.

Thats all well and good but when the white collar jobs get outsourced to India, where do we go from there?

[BooBoo1000]

Everyone that Voted for Clinton, instead of Perot, please stand and listen to the giant sucking sound. Ross Was Right.

[hedgetrimmer]

"If we keep losing jobs, my great fear is that early next year, Karl Rove, the president's political strategist, will say, 'Mr. President, it's time for you to join the China bashers.'"
--Economist David Hale of Hale Advisors,
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1004110/posts

[maestro]

Everyone that Voted for Clinton, instead of Perot, please stand and listen to the giant sucking sound. Ross Was Right.

Very Interesting Slogan Truth,....It would make a great UNION banner!

/sarcasm

[x]

OK, then please explain to me why industrial employment is declining WORLDWIDE and not just in the US?

Uh, because we are in a WORLDWIDE recession? Journal spin aside, it's not clear that one can generalize from the experience of the last few years. The question is what will happen in more prosperous times. Moreover, what about the flight of service jobs to less developed countries? You want to marginalize economic changes as a matter solely of concern to blue collar workers, but it's not the case. Job flight affects some very white collar employees as well. I don't know what the answer is, but the deeper question is how elites are writing off the nation and its interests in favor of a global order that they control.

[riri]

Mr. President, it's time for you to join the China bashers

Yeah, we don't want to bash China it might hurt their self esteem. Well, then we give them no reason to travel the road of peace. Or something like that. /sarcasm/

[ridesthemiles]

Clearly this town has not moved forward witht he times if the PR reps there are still pushing the invention of the hand-cranked pencil sharpener.

Don't be such a bonehead. There are many places that are appropriate for a hand cranked pencil sharpener. I still get a better sharp from the hand crank sharpener I own than the fancy electric one I have, and I do bookkeeping, where I need a readable figure sometimes in a small space. With so many required electrical items and many buildings having a limited number of outlets, the hand cranker has still got it's place and need.

[Clemenza]

Moreover, what about the flight of service jobs to less developed countries?

Manufacturing has declined at a faster rate in Brazil than in the USA over the past ten years and even Mexico has seen a considerable decline in key industries such as steel. The Journal article referred to LONG TERM trends in manufacturing, where employment worldwide has been declining due to TECHNOLOGY and worker productivity. Besides, I don't need a Journal Article to tell me this, as I worked as a lender to various industrial concerns in Central and South America that either shut down or retooled during the 90s when we were not in a "worldwide recession."

[Clemenza]

As far as service jobs are concerned, while it is sad that call center jobs are relocating overseas, may I suggest retail? There will always be some sort of service economy here to satisfy the needs of American consumers, whether that be working at Wal-Mart, in a nail salon or in a brothel.

Bottom line is that low-skilled jobs s-ck no matter where you are. We probably agree that we we shouldn't kiss Beijing's a-s and should abolish the WTO, but let's not get nostalgic for an era that will never return and wasn't that great to begin with.

[IGNATIUS]

I'm hoping (but not holding my breath) for the grossly overpaid and corrupt,beancounter/MBA/attorney Enron style wallstreetsucking heads of international capitalism to ultimately all be outsourced.

[RiflemanSharpe]

Maybe we should outsource a few CEO's. I am sure that there are some people in INdia that can run, say Intel, for less.

[finnman69]

Thats it...thats the key to saving America!

Lets subsidize these workers so they can make millions fo hand-cranked pencil sharpeners no one needs!

[Ronzo]

OK, then please explain to me why industrial employment is declining WORLDWIDE and not just in the US?

Increased productivity and better use of technology, combined with lower demand for manufactured goods.

However, the Rockford workers in the article posted were not loosing their jobs to either one of those reasons, but due to overseas competition.

OK, manufacturing isn't where it's at, except in China and India (any manufacturing employment stats on those two nations????) But, why are WHITE COLLAR jobs going overseas, never to be seen again? Has there been a worldwide decrease in the need for programmers and engineers? (To name just two of a whole bunch of careers going by-by here in the U.S.of A....) What are the "worldwide" employment stats on white collar jobs???

[IGNATIUS]

"but let's not get nostalgic over an era that will never return and wasn't that great to begin with"

Oh,really?So what was wrong with a union factory job building cars or washing machines--that allowed a high school grad to buy a house and an occasional new car,plus help his kids thru college whilst his wife stayed home and raised them?

[FITZ]

Bottom line is that low-skilled jobs s-ck no matter where you are.

What if you're in the lower half of the IQ scale or even one of the smart high school drop-outs that now wants to become a worker? Only half the people have an IQ at or over 100, half have one at or under 100 ------ a job that puts food on your table and lets you live in a house is good.

[Paul Ross]

Everything you use, except software, had to be manufactured by machines and tools. We aren't making either. We were at the forefront along with the Japanese at staying ahead of the pack in productivity. But now, even the most productive are losing out...to the lowest wage economies. The lowest common denominator. Your points imply you just don't get it. The 'New Economy' NEVER WAS. It was all a Clinton-inspired self-delusion. And if it ever was, it is now, without doubt, DEAD. Time to learn how to run machines again, bud.

[pctech]

I told ya, I have said since NAFTA and GATT were passed that we were in for a labor job loss unrivaled in American history and it's coming to pass.

Shame on our GOP leaders for passing NAFTA and GATT to begin with. If nothing is done our country will become a country that can no longer provide for itself and will become a nation that is vulnerable to the whims of the world.

[oceanview]

That's not totally true. The new economy was/is real (to some degree, pets.com was not the new economy). But you are correct in that the new economy is not the ENTIRE economy. Manufacturing is important. And we are now getting killed on all fronts; losing manufacturing jobs, losing techs jobs, losing service jobs and white collar staff jobs that can be done by someone sitting in front of a computer.

[EverOnward]

"I'm a free trader, but I'm also a fair trader. And I believe our manufacturing sector, for example, must be treated fairly in foreign markets," Bush said in a recent Cabinet meeting.

Note to President Bush: What you do is so loud we can't hear you!!

[EverOnward]

Don't be such a bonehead. There are many places that are appropriate for a hand cranked pencil sharpener. I still get a better sharp from the hand crank sharpener I own than the fancy electric one I have, and I do bookkeeping, where I need a readable figure sometimes in a small space. With so many required electrical items and many buildings having a limited number of outlets, the hand cranker has still got it's place and need.

You have come close to something I've noticed: the items once made in the U.S. no matter how old are of a much higher quality than the slave labor pieces of junk on the market now. Off-shoring seems to cut quality at least by half.

American workers, whether they've voted Republican or Democrat, are aligning themselves together on one issue: jobs. The politicians and the ranters for globalization on this thread can insult and intimidate all they want -- the folks going to the voting booths in coming elections will vote for JOBS staying in the US.

Time for a third party?