Bush Looks to Stem Manufacturing Job Loss

AP ^ | 9/1/2003 | SCOTT LINDLAW

[sixmil]

On a rain-soaked Labor Day trip to a factory training center, Bush said he had directed Commerce Secretary Don Evans to establish an assistant position to focus "on the needs of manufacturers." Keeping factory jobs is critical to a broader economic recovery, the president said, his outdoor venue ringed by cranes, backhoes and bulldozers.

Bush said the nation has lost "thousands of jobs in manufacturing." In fact, the losses have soared into the millions: Of the 2.7 million jobs the U.S. economy has lost since the recession began in early 2001, 2.4 million were in manufacturing. The downturn has eliminated more than one in 10 of the nation's factory jobs.

The president attributed the erosion to productivity gains and to jobs flowing to cheaper labor markets overseas. He suggested that jobs moving to foreign shores was his primary reason for creating the new manufacturing czar.

"One way to make sure that the manufacturing sector does well is to send a message overseas, (to) say, look, we expect there to be a fair playing field when it comes to trade," Bush said.

"See, we in America believe we can compete with anybody, just so long as the rules are fair, and we intend to keep the rules fair," Bush said, his audience of workers and supporters cheering.

Bush administration officials believe one way to spark the economy and deal with the bloated trade deficit is for other countries to remove trade barriers. That would allow U.S. companies to more freely do business in overseas markets, boosting America's global competitiveness. The nation's trade deficit ran at an annual rate of $488.5 billion for the first six months of this year, heading for another record.

Congress approved pacts with Singapore and Chile earlier this year, and the administration says it now is striving for an agreement for all of Central America.

Bush did not name the new manufacturing official, and gave no timetable for offering a nomination to the Senate. Nor did he specify what duties the new post would include.

He spent most of his speech expressing empathy for anxious workers, and wiping rain from his head, which became thoroughly drenched despite his union hat.

"I want you to understand that I understand that Ohio manufacturers are hurting, that there's a problem with the manufacturing sector," Bush said. "I understand that for a full recovery, to make sure people can find work, that manufacturing must do better," Bush said.

Ohio lost 185,000 jobs during the recession from 2001 through last March, nearly two-thirds in manufacturing, according to a study released Sunday by a private economic think tank.

Politics loomed large in Bush's 11th trip to Ohio — a state he carried in 2000, and one where he also spent the July Fourth holiday.

Monday, Bush brought along his chief political adviser, Karl Rove, for the half-day trip to address the International Union of Operating Engineers, which represents 400,000 construction and maintenance workers in the United States and Canada.

Bush has tried to woo some trade and industrial unions, which tend to be more conservative than public and service sector unions. The Operating Engineers union is among the largest labor donors to Republicans, contributing 16 percent of its $1.3 million to the GOP in 2002, and its president, Frank Hanley, has appeared at several previous events with Bush.

The White House chose politically friendly territory for the event. Although surrounding communities tilt Democrat, Richfield leans Republican. Bush's motorcade route took him along stately homes in an affluent neighborhood, and clusters of supporters waved signs backing the president.

His crowd applauded when Bush argued that two rounds of tax cuts had kept the recession shallow and had helped spur factory jobs.

Democrats said the tax cuts have gone to the wealthiest taxpayers and have sent the deficit spiraling to $480 billion for next year, while doing little to jump-start the economy.

"I hope his tour of the state will include the empty factories and bankrupt corporations," said Ohio Rep. Dennis Kucinich (news, bio, voting record), one of nine Democrats vying to challenge Bush.

The Labor Day trip marked Bush's first public appearance since he returned Saturday from a monthlong stay on his ranch in Crawford, Texas. It kicks off a burst of heavy travel in the 15 months leading up to Election Day.

Bush still had Crawford on his mind as he addressed the operating engineers.

"We need a little rain in Crawford," he told an audience shielding itself with rain slickers and garbage bags. "Send it that way, if you don't mind."

[Big Giant Head]

jobs HAVE NOT BEEN LOST.

What? All these millions and millions of jobs lost in the last three decades are not really gone? < /sarcasm >

Maybe, just maybe, some jobs get created along the way, and not reported to the doom and gloomers? Otherwise there would be NO JOBS left.

[voicereason]

I don't believe there is much the government can or should specifically do to attract or create jobs - manufacturing or otherwise.

They should focus on keeping taxes and regulation as light as possible, and leave the rest to the genius of the market.

Exactly right. A good part of the problem lies with the government's willingness to stick it's nose into what it doesn't understand.

Now we not only have the government inserting itself in business affairs, but also expanding itself with the creation of another questionable position.

[4.1O dana super trac pak]

Bump for later.

[Ukiapah Heep]

A manufacturing czar won't do much. We are not a czarist economy.

It is the President's job to see to it that there is fair trade. Almost all recent presidents have done poorly on this one. Despite his extreme socialist leanings, the only special session Clinton called as president was to pass NAFTA.

[NoControllingLegalAuthority]

The major loss of American manufacturing jobs is not a lie and is well-documented. Rush does himself and the country no service by ignoring reality and quoting a single source of misinformation against a tidal wave of proof to the contrary.

Global free trade might be OK if it existed. China will not allow American business free access to Chinese markets. They insist that products sold there have to be, in large part, built there. That is not free trade. China has even told Boeing that it will not buy Boeing jets not built mostly in China. That is nonsense and should be grounds to stop the flood of cheap Chinese goods into the United States until it is corrected.

China is hell-bent on destroying American manufacturing as a strategic goal. Our turncoat business leaders are in lock-step to help them achieve that goal. I cannot envision a way to destroy the economy of the United States faster than exporting all of our manufacturing into China proper or to Chinese-owned businesses in other countries. It is absolute national suicide.

[edchambers]

I think "free trade" is one of these things that looks good on paper but in reality just isn't working.If we were to demand free and EQUAL trade that would be different.In other words if a country has a tarrif on American goods we should have the same tarrif on thier products.If a nation engages in economic sabbotage as Japan did in the 70s and China is doing now we should cut off our trade relationship until it is made equitable.

[Nov3]

Unlike in 91-92 when the jobs just went away for a while these jobs are gone for GOOD. This is the most serious threat to our economy.

[Nov3]

Rush read an article last week from someone who looked at manufactirung jobs in the 1990's and found that jobs HAVE NOT BEEN LOST.

Either you are smoking some awfully good stuff or you don't work in manufacturing. Rush is wrong.

[LS]

Somewhat dubious numbers: "Of the 2.7 million jobs the U.S. economy has lost since the recession began in early 2001, 2.4 million were in manufacturing."

I have seen previously that of all the jobs lost since 9/11, one-third are in travel, airlines, and recreation. This was a pretty solid study. I don't doubt that mfg. jobs have dminished, but I think it pales next to the decline in rec./air/travel jobs lost since 9/11.

[LS]

No, it doesn't run contrary to everything else. In fact it is ENTIRELY consistent with all the scholarship and research which has been done from 1985 on. It's only a surprise to you guys who constantly think the U.S. is in a recession---and, I might add, many of you were saying so through the 1990s. How can we lose jobs now that we never "gained" in the 1990s?????

The U.S. share of manufacturing has been constant for about three decades. Most of that manufacturing is done at thousands of small shops that don't make a big splash when they hire 1-2 more workers. On the other hand, let GE lay off 1,000, and it's in all the papers.

[LS]

Shot full of holes? Like, "Gee, I lost my job so it can't be right?"

Show me the NAM data on % of GDP of American manufactureres. Go ahead, make my day. I guarantee you it hasn't changed much over the last 20 years.

[Destro]

1) Tarrifs 2) The mere threat of retaliatory tarrifs 3) Domestic investment tax credits for new manufacturing or expanded manufacturing facilities.

Yes and more Yes!!!

Sad thing is no major party candidate out there is willing to run on this platform (so far). We are alone.

[WilliamofCarmichael]

Thank you for the information.

I would just like to ask Mr. Limbaugh and Mr. Reynolds of Cato to explain the Congressional testimony of Mr. Jerry Jasinowski, Chairman, National Association of Manufacturers earlier this year. Mr. Reynolds sure cannot. He instead sprinkles his inane comments with little cutesy remarks about superstition and failures to check facts. I think he was projecting.

2.1 million jobs lost in this recent downturn. Plus, "Over the past year and two months, we have seen the weakest manufacturing recovery from recession since the Federal Reserve started keeping tabs on such things back in 1919. The data show that since December 2001, manufacturing production has edged up only 1.6 percent, drastically slower than the first 14 months of the previous six recoveries when growth in manufacturing averaged 10.8 percent."

http://www.house.gov/smbiz/hearings/108th/2003/030409/jasinowski.html

If recognizing that there is unemployment means that I'm a Bush hater then I guess I am a Bush hater, though it's news to me.

[LS]

You hit the nail on the head. Does anyone else here remember we heard many of the same arguments in the 1990s---that we were losing all our mfg. jobs? Fine, if that is the case, when did we "GAIN" the manufacturing jobs that we are not "losing?"

I don't for a minute think that industry hasn't shed some/many jobs. But what you aren't seeing is the churning at the other end---the small shops doing the outsourcing/freelance/contractual stuff that are adding workers here and there. More important, we constantly overlook the number of NEW BUSINESS startups via entrepreneurs who are fed up with working for other people who can lay them off.

For example, Glenn Hubbard and William Gentry have a new paper on "entrepreneurship and household saving," showing that, to cut out all the "economese," households that have businesses own a substantial share of household wealth and income, and that they save almost universally in an undiversified manner---i.e., all their money goes into their businesses. Finally, they show that entrepreneurs save at even higher rates than everyone else. This is just one of many papers on how businesses are started (usually by internal funding, savings, etc., not loans) and how they grow (pretty well). There are plenty more studies out there like this.

[LS]

China accounts for a miniscule---MINISCULE---portion of our imports, trade, and especially manufacuturing. You'd be better off worrying about Ireland. Course, they DO have free trade, so you can't blame NAFTA or GATT or anything else for the sources of genuine mfg. competition.

China controls about as much of our mfg. dollar as the Arabs controlled American real estate in the early 1980s when there was a paranoia about the Arabs "buying up" American land. They peaked at .001%

[Lessismore]

From the Bureau of Labor Statistics at
http://www.bls.gov/iag/iag.manufacturing.htm

Manufacturing

Manufacturing is by far the largest of the goods-producing industries in terms of employment. While factories account for just a little more than a third of goods-producing establishments, manufacturing employees outnumber their colleagues in construction and mining by nearly 3-to-1. Manufacturing represents about 5 percent of all establishments and about 14 percent of all employment covered by unemployment insurance.

Employment data based on an establishment survey show annual average employment in manufacturing fluctuating from 18.1 million to 18.8 million between 1991 and 2000, before declining sharply in 2001 and 2002. In 2002, manufacturing employment stood at 16.7 million. From its cyclical trough in 1991, employment for the economy as a whole increased every year until it fell between 2001 and 2002.

Over the 1991-2002 period, the unemployment rate in manufacturing rose to 7.8 percent in 1992 and fell to 3.6 percent in 2000, then jumped to 5.2 percent in 2001 and 6.7 percent in 2002. The overall unemployment rate in 2002 was 5.8 percent.

Click on the link for charts.

[LS]

Fine. Explain to me when these jobs "came back."

If they did "come back," then it was on Clinton's watch.

If they did, then it was under NAFTA.

If they did, where are the stats showing that mfg. GREW in the 1990s? It didn't because they never "left."

[LS]

Rush is right. We are not exporting toymaking/trinket making jobs to China. Period.

[ARCADIA]

What are you trying to say?

There were manufacturing industries srinking during the 1970s and 1980s, and these continued to shrink during the 1990s. Whatever manufacturing we gained was a result of launching new industries such as computers, the internet, and related peripherals. The problem today is that all of these sectors are shrinking, and there is no new manufacturing jobs on the horizon.

As for entrepreneurship, it is largely a dead end. 4 out of 5 new businesses fail dramatically, and the barriers to entry are set higher then ever. The ADA requirements, insurance, and the convoluted licensing process alone will burn most people. Just the health insurance cost, for a family of four, is almost as large as a morgage. If you think entrepreneurship is the way to go, you either haven't launched a new business in decades, or are fortunate enough to have access to very significant capital. Sure people are trying to start new businesses; What choice do they have? But, most of these are not going to make it.

[RaceBannon]

Connecticut lost 12,000 jobs in July 2003 alone.

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/959787/posts
Lawmaker predicts defeat for 'Buy American' language (Defense Department procurement update)

"But, in general, the protective system of our day is conservative, while the free trade system is destructive. It breaks up old nationalities and pushes the antagonism of the proletariat and the bourgeoisie to the extreme point. In a word, the free trade system hastens the social revolution. It is in this revolutionary sense alone, gentlemen, that I vote in favor of free trade." ~ Karl Marx, On the Question of Free Trade, January 9, 1848 http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/01/09ft.htm#marx

"Communists and socialists feel sure that setting up international “free” trade systems which impose regulations chuck full of intrigues, redistribution plans, arbitrary law, and interdependence schemes, will win out against the conservative interests of every free nation. What could be better than to use “free” trade to reverse the advantage of the relatively free, moral, prosperous, and strong nations of the Earth, so that the tyrannical, amoral, poor, and weak nations of the socialist bloc might get the upper hand? What could be a more cunning approach than to market the idea that those who oppose “free” trade are enemies of freedom?" http://www.newsmax.com/commentarchive.shtml?a=2000/6/27/105655

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IMPACT OF U.S.-CHINA TRADE RELATIONS ON WORKERS, WAGES, AND EMPLOYMENT PILOT STUDY REPORT