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.
We hear this class envy song and dance from the loony left everyday it seems; truth is that about half of what Americans own is stocks, either directly or through their mutual-funds/pensions/life-insurance.
Do you read backwards or what? Your comment was 39, mine was 52. Downstream..where you're headed!
the stats are skewed because so many things count as "manufacturing" - that you wouldn't think of as finished goods. I believe electricity is part of manufacturing output, well of course we make more of that with our increasing population. and we have to manufacture foodstuffs to feed that population.
to really see what is going on, the data needs to be stripped of all these inconsistencies. we lose almost the entire furniture manufacturing industry to China, but some factories crank up "manufacturing" of laundry detergent and other consumer non-durables, as automated pumps fill more plastic bottles with it, and the numbers hide that.
No, but that hasn't stopped more and more people from becoming shareholders. In 1980, only 25% of all American workers were invested in the market. Today, that number is closer to 60%. That's one reason our household net worth has been climbing to record highs and why our middle class is doing so well. As a matter of fact, the economy is doing so well that 80% of all millionaires in the U.S are first generation rich.
Where the profits go does indeed matter. Even though the doomers hate to see others getting wealthy while they stagnate and grow bitter.
1. Open borders, for both migrant workers and aspiring terrorists
2. Unrestricted illegal workers in all industries
3. Transfer of manufacturing in China, leading to 90% rates of counterfeit products in many sectors (example: try and find a legitimate "Jabra JX-10" bluetooth handset...I bought one at Cicuit City and its was a FAKE! Because every company manufacturing in China must provide the state entity with the full plans of hardware and software, and a finished product, which they then get right to work copying, with state financial assistance)
I remember asking you this question a long, long time ago: why shouldn't the making of Liquid Cheer count as manufacturing? Does P&G pump it from the ground, or something?
I'm thinking of all the plants in southern states, but that's for your info.
In 2001 top 5% owned 60% of national wealth, while bottom 60% owned 4%. How is it now?
Who stood, looking on in approval when Clinton signed NAFTA?
Are things more equal in Poland? Is more equal the same as better? Perhaps you'd move back and let us know?
Ronald Reagan.
All that envy's going to eat you up. I guess it's better to project the blame elsewhere -- free trade, outsourcing, illegals, greedy CEO's, transnational corporations, China, the money supply, Elvis -- than it is to take responsibility for yourself and your position in life. The Democrats love playing the blame game and they're pretty good at getting people to believe that they're not responsible for their lot in life and that we should punish those who dared to take control of their future and be successful. The government can make life fair. Trust them.
fine, let it count. its a manufactured product. so is Aquafina water, they take water from a regional water supply, pass it through a filter, and fill a bottle with it. Boom, its "manufactured".
The point is - does counting this stuff really reflect what is going on? no, it skews it. Pepsi fills ten million more water bottles, and the semiconductor industry moves to China. The stats balance out. Do the numbers really explain what is going on? Of course not, that's my point. These numbers are almost useless without context.
and BLS and the Commerce Department know it. instead of providing specific analytical breakdowns, they just toss out the headline numbers and walk away.
There's at least one more new plant being built in the U.S., I just don't remember who's building it . . . I think it was some Motorola joint-venture.
In my vocabulary "free traders" includes them doin' the free tradin'; to wit, the U.S. corporations. My guess, if I were to write and ask, the answer would be, "XXX is an international corporation. It’s what we do." Fine.
Car companies are an extreme case. Since the days of "Engine Charlie" Wilson car companies have felt so secure as to be lulled into making outrageous deals with union bosses. The companies are just now dealing with the problems they themselves help create.
But still there are hundreds of other industries and the pertinent question remains: so how come insourcing can make an sell here and many of our guys say that it cannot be done competitively?
I suppose my question is more or less rhetorical.
I believe you mentioned various incentives; but, I understand those incentives are offered to get corporations to move into a location. Yes, that's an advantage that some foreigners enjoy -- but it's available to American companies also. Right now Michigan is running ads in California to attract companies to relocate.
Then there's that recently-built, multi-billion dollar chip plant that IBM built in East Fishkill, NY.
I know you do, you are your pals just love making war on the American middle/working class.
And Oh by the way, the Reagan Democrats walked away from a free trading GOP. Yall have killed the GOP.
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