Free Republic

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. Although warnings about the crisis engulfing American manufacturing have been intensifying for months, the sector´s woes continue to be significantly underestimated – certainly by official Washington and even by many manufacturers themselves.  In fact, despite the current boost in growth fueled by deficit spending, tax cuts, mortgage re-financings, and other one-time stimuli, the decline of American manufacturing is fast nearing the point of irreversibility – at least from the standpoint of restoring a critical mass of industries producing in the United States to world leadership. The nation, in short, faces a...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. America's high-tech industry lost 540,000 jobs in 2002, with employment dropping to 6 million, according to a study by AeA, the nation's largest high-tech trade association. But AeA projects high-tech job losses will slow to 234,000 this year. Electronics manufacturing accounted for more than half of the high-tech jobs lost last year. But for the first time in the seven years that AeA has prepared its Cyberstates report, the software industry declined instead of grew -- cutting 150,000 jobs last year. All but three states -- the District of Columbia, Wyoming...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. Mexico City, decembre 01 (FINSAT).- Transportation and Communications Secretariat (SCT) workers called a work stoppage to protest the planned firing of 4,000 of their comrades, to become effective next December 5. In an interview, the head of the SCTns operations sector, Victor Manuel Garcia Paredes, said Monday management announced the layoffs, which will include Telecom, Marina Mercante and Central Offices personnel. The union boss said the slicing of the labor contract also calls for the firing Telecom members of the unionns executive committee and he wouldnnt dismiss the possibility of the...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. It puzzles me how easily people entrust their security or large amounts of money to strangers and then cry foul when they lose it. Usually, they are victimized by their greed. The news reports how a man handed over $24,000 to a stranger who promised him a huge profit in return. It said that a stranger wanted to make a $40,000 charitable donation in another city, but didn't want to drive there. So, he promised to pay the man $10,000 if he delivered the cash for him. The catch - there...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US manufacturing activity unexpectedly shot to a 20-year record in November as factories hired workers to belt out goods for the runaway economy, a survey showed. The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) purchasing managers' index, based on a survey of supply executives, leapt to 62.8 points in November -- far above expectations -- from 57.0 in October. It was the fifth consecutive month of growth. Any figure above 50 points indicates expanding activity. "The manufacturing sector enjoyed its best month since December 1983," said survey chief Norbert Ore. Factories finally took on workers after more than three...

November Manufacturing ISM Report On Business® PMI at 62.8% Production, New Orders, Employment GrowInventories UnchangedSupplier Deliveries Slower (Tempe, Arizona) — Economic activity in the manufacturing sector grew in November for the fifth consecutive month, while the overall economy grew for the 25th consecutive month, say the nation's supply executives in the latest Manufacturing ISM Report On Business®.The report was issued today by Norbert J. Ore, C.P.M., chair of the Institute for Supply Management™ Manufacturing Business Survey Committee and group director, strategic sourcing and procurement, Georgia-Pacific Corporation. "The manufacturing sector enjoyed its best month since December 1983. The big improvement...

<p>Since the Big 8 shrunk into the newly structured Big 4 over the past dozen years, U.S. businesses -- particularly big companies -- have had a much narrower choice in deciding which accounting firm will peruse their books.</p> <p>And now with the frequency some of the Big 4 get themselves into trouble over faulty audits, the investing public seems far less protected from fraud with so few major accounting firms acting as watchdogs.</p>

<p>MEXICALI VALLEY, Mexico -- Jorge Vidales and his wife, Estela, work side by side in the fields here from September through May. The couple, both 30, have been harvesting green onions for a living since they were 15.</p> <p>Most days they get up around 6, get breakfast for their seven children, then get on a truck that takes them to the fields. Their 14-year-old daughter, Alma Rosa, takes care of Gustavo, 3, and Alex, 18 months. The other children -- Hector, 8, Antonio, 10, Jorge Luis, 12, and Arturo, 13 -- attend a nearby school. Estela Valladores de Vidales is seven months pregnant with their eighth.</p>

<p>Southwestern Pennsylvania may be short of some things -- young people, sunny days -- but in one category it's in a class of its own: Local government. Allegheny County alone has 130 municipalities, and this abundance of officialdom has led to calls for a more rational consolidation of government units.</p>

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- OPEC may decide to cut production quotas at its December meeting if it decides the market is oversupplied, Venezuela's oil minister said Thursday. "In the case of oversupply, we could curb output," Rafael Ramirez told reporters. Ramirez's remarks came three days after crude futures plunged 6 percent on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The drop followed an estimate released by tanker-tracking firm Petrologistics saying that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries appeared to be overproducing its output ceiling by 1 million barrels in November. Prices rose but...

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. Billions of people will face severe water shortages as glaciers around the world melt unless governments take urgent action to tackle global warming, the environmental group WWF said Thursday, ahead of a UN conference on climate change. "Increasing global temperatures in the coming century will cause continued widespread melting of glaciers, which contain 70 percent of the world's fresh water reserves," it warned in a new study. "An overall rise of temperature of four degrees Celsius before the end of the century would eliminate almost all of them," it said. Average...

WASHINGTON — Neil Bush, a younger brother of President Bush, has a $400,000-a-year contract to provide business advice to a Chinese computer chip manufacturer, according to court documents. At the same time the Bush administration is promising to crack down on alleged trade abuses by the Chinese, Neil Bush has agreed to strategize with China's Grace Semiconductor Manufacturing Corp., the documents show. While there is no indication he has done anything improper, Bush's arrangement could attract attention during a presidential election cycle in which Chinese business practices have become a hot-button issue.

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.Nov. 27 (AP) — Instead of using deep discounts to lure shoppers this holiday season, Domain Home Fashions is sending design consultants to their homes for free. Bloomingdale's also plans to discount less, counting on upscale holiday decor and splashy versions of its private label merchandise to motivate shoppers. And Bergdorf Goodman is focusing on designer names that can't be found elsewhere to draw well-heeled shoppers. As holiday shopping starts in earnest Friday amid an improving economy, many of the nation's retailers -- particularly department stores and apparel merchants -- plan to...