The Mirage of a Return to Manufacturing Greatness

New York Times ^ | APRIL 26, 2016 | Eduardo Porter

[expat_panama]

Half a century ago, harvesting California’s 2.2 million tons of tomatoes for ketchup required as many as 45,000 workers. In the 1960s, though, scientists and engineers at the University of California, Davis, developed an oblong tomato that lent itself to being machine-picked and an efficient mechanical harvester to do the job in one pass through a field.

The battle to save jobs was on...

...These days, the battle to save American jobs has a different flavor...

...In America’s factories, jobs are inevitably disappearing, too. But despite the political rhetoric, the problem is not mainly globalization. Manufacturing jobs are on the decline in factories around the world.

“The observation is uncontroversial,” said Joseph Stiglitz, the Nobel-winning economist at Columbia University. “Global employment in manufacturing is going down because productivity increases are exceeding increases in demand for manufactured products by a significant amount.”

The consequences of this dynamic are often misunderstood, not least by politicians offering slogans to fix them.

No matter how high the tariffs Mr. Trump wants to raise to encircle the American economy, he will not be able to produce a manufacturing renaissance at home... ...“We are more likely to have a smaller share of a shrinking pie.”...

..The first large transition from agriculture to industry in the early 20th century — well lubricated by public spending on world wars — liberated workers from their chains far more effectively than Karl Marx’s revolution ever did.

The current transition, from manufacturing to services, is more problematic. In poor countries...

...In the United States... ...American workers are rebelling against the changing tide.

Note to Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Sanders and Mr. Trump: A grab at the world’s manufacturing jobs is the wrong answer. Walls will damage prosperity, not enhance it. Promises to recapture industrial-era greatness ring hollow.

[Chgogal]

I put some stock into what Trump says, but mainly I keep an eye on what he does. Hopefully Trump will watch the tax payers’ monies as closely as he does his own money. As you can see at the NYT’s link, the professional politicians are very good at spending other people's money. Remember Maggie Thatcher!!!! ; )

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/us/elections/election-2016-campaign-money-race.html

[central_va]

Comparing agriculture to manufacturing is stupid.

[central_va]

Marx believed in Free Trade because of its destructive nature.

[central_va]

We can't go back to car, railroad and steel manufacturing as the basis of our manufacturing jobs,

Why not?

[Eric Pode of Croydon]

There is an anecdote about a visit by Milton Friedman to China, where he was shown several hundred workers excavating a foundation using nothing but shovels.

He pointed out that one man with a bulldozer could do the job in a couple of days, to which his Chinese guide replied "Yes, but we could not cope with the resulting unemployment."

Friedman's response: "Well, if it's employment you want to guarantee, then throw away the shovels and give them all spoons."

We seem to have more and more Americans who are eager to set up Spoon Brigades.

[Texas Fossil]

Marx was an evil b_tard.

So is Obama.

They both thought it was their right to rule everyone else.

They can all go to hell.

[Eric Pode of Croydon]

Every major business in every country (yes, including China and Mexico) has talented people figuring out how to produce more with fewer employees.

And they will continue to do so, because your retirement fund and mine are managed by people who seek out the companies who bring in the best bottom lines.

We need to seriously think about how economics will work in a world where we can produce everything we are producing now (and more) with half the employees.