Posted on 12/12/2006 8:10:42 AM PST by A. Pole
U.S.-made products are losing market share to imports across a wide range of core industries in the United States, according to a new study.
Among 114 product categories, U.S.-based producers boosted their domestic market share in only three categories between 1997 and 2005: heavy trucks and chassis, computer storage devices, and computer chips. Imports gained market share in 111 categories.
The survey from the U.S. Business and Industry Council, a nonprofit group in Washington of small and midsize manufacturers and a critic of U.S. trade policy, used Census Bureau data. The survey excluded inexpensive consumer products found in Wal-Marts, Targets and dollar stores. Toys, clothing, sporting goods and other products in those retail stores are typically blamed for the soaring trade deficit.
Instead, the study focused on industrial and engineered products, such as wireless equipment, plumbing fixtures, tire cord, navigation and guidance systems, power boilers, and heat exchangers.
Alan Tonelson, a research fellow at the council and author of the study, said yesterday that the study showed that the United States "is failing to pass the test of global competition." He said the country appeared to no longer be a place where many manufacturers want to invest in advanced factories.
A spokesman for the National Association of Manufacturers, the main trade group for manufacturing companies, said yesterday that there was a "mixed picture" for U.S. manufacturers and dismissed Tonelson's study as too pessimistic. "Manufacturing is still the heart and soul of the U.S. economy," spokesman Hank Cox said. U.S. manufacturers are losing market share, but the entire market is growing, allowing them to expand, Cox said.
"To be sure, U.S. manufacturing companies have a lot of problems," Cox said. "But to have Alan Tonelson and Lou Dobbs running around waving a bloody shirt, saying 'we've been sold down the river' does not help." Dobbs, a CNN commentator, has criticized U.S. trade policy.
The last recession pounded the manufacturing sector, causing it to shed about three million jobs. Profits at U.S. manufacturing companies have rebounded modestly in recent years. But job losses from earlier in the decade appear permanent, as factory employment has remained stuck at 14.3 million to 14.4 million since mid-2003.
"The reality is that until there is a change in the trade situation, there won't be new manufacturing jobs," said Daniel Meckstroth, chief economist with the Manufacturers Alliance, a nonprofit educational and business-research organization. The group is free-trade-oriented.
Meckstroth said the number of U.S. factories declined every year between 1997 and 2005, falling to 334,700 from 374,600. Meckstroth said he expected the factory level to stabilize this year. He said the nation's trade deficit as a share of the economy, now at about 6 percent, is unsustainable.
Many economists have said a weaker dollar might help manufacturing companies. But Tonelson said he believed import penetration rates would keep rising even when the U.S. dollar was weak. "Anyone who thinks that a major U.S. devaluation will be a cure-all for U.S. manufacturing is really kidding themselves," he said.
Tonelson also said it was unlikely that U.S.-made products were capturing a higher share of foreign markets, which would offset losses at home.
"It does not make sense to suppose that U.S. products are doing better in foreign markets than in their home U.S. market," Tonelson said.
The headline should read "Shares drop for products made under U.S. governement-enforced collective bargaining system."
(Prominent Spanish official - Alfonso Nunez de Castro in 1675)
The Philadelphia Enquirer has three readers left. Mayor Street, Charles Barkley. Allan Iverson
Old Media Bias Alert
The article fails to provide accurate information.
Just because a product is built abroad does not mean the company is not American. It is all about where the PROFITS go not where the product is made.
Why are american car parts made in canada? it is cheeper to do it there than in the USA.
People should not complain about walmart, people should buy shares in Wallmart.
It should be easier to do manufacture inside the US, we face enough competition from foreign companies without having to jump through all of the hoops here at home.
Lower taxes, easier approvals, less of a lawsuit threat, we should work on all of those things.
It does, however, mean the jobs that produce the product are not American.
It is all about where the PROFITS go not where the product is made.
A viable and stable free nation requires a healthy middle class, I'm not averse to profits but I am averse the the federal government creating a situation where companies that employ Americans are at a huge disadvantage.
Why are american car parts made in Canada? it is cheeper to do it there than in the USA.
Canada, Japan, S. Korea, even the EU I have no issue with its slave labor without the freedom of speech in China, its African Nations where companies would flock because they can dump mercury in the water. But outside of Iraq America does not have the job of spreading freedom right? We can spread freedom with a Gun but not trade policy.
People should not complain about walmart, people should buy shares in Wallmart.
I dont blame Wal-Mart or Dell, or cisco, or anyone else who moves Jobs off shore I blame the Government and I blame free traitors..
How much profit do you make? If the whole infrastructure is abroad, how will you preserve the American ownership? With the mere piece of paper?
I hope the total failure of our insane (so called free) trade policies is becomming apparent to all.
Ouch.
I blame federal regulations, Sarbanes-Oxley, and taxes (local, state and fed).
Let's fix those and see how it goes.
Japan did this in the 1960's to shame their industry which at the time were making cheap, low quality products.
Which is why Obama wants to make a "prevailing wage law" which would make ALL workers have to be paid union scale even if not working under the thumb of a union.
If Honda, Toyota, Mazda, and Nissan can all establish manufacturing plants in the US and produce a quality product while making a profit, perhaps its time to stop blaming government and labor and take a look at the corprations, themselves, and the people who run them.
Well, I guess that settles it. Tonelson thinks it's "unlikely."
Toyota seems to do that very well.
They have their own suppliers, and they keep non-japanese out of the upper eschelons of managment. (or at least decision making managment)
Do you mean suppliers in the U.S., or elsewhere?
Seems like what's needed here is for someone to set up a ping list for freepers who're registered Democrats; and since those guys are basically a helpless lot they're going to need our help
Anybody here got time to run this thing?
Does posting Kerry '04 talking-points count? I'm dealing with it on another thread. :)
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