Posted on 01/02/2009 1:39:46 PM PST by shielagolden
Manufacturing slows to lowest level since 1948, the ISM Survey showed
By
(AXcess News) Houston - The Institute of Supply Management (ISM) December Survey revealed that the manufacturing sector continued to show no sign of growth for the fifth consecutive month while the overall U.S. economy shrank for the third month in a row.
ISM chairman of the Committee Survey Norbert J. Ore said manufacturers across the entire spectrum of companies saw a "significant decline" in activity during the month of December.
"The decline covers the full breadth of manufacturing industries, as none of the industries in the sector report growth at this time," said Ore.
The ISM noted that the Performance by Industry index (PMI) shrank 3.8% in December over the prior month to 32.4 from 36.2 in November.
New manufacturing orders shrank 5.2% in December with the ISM Survey's index of New Orders at 22.7 compared to 27.9 the previous month.
The ISM said production fell 6% in December to an Index reading of 25.5 from 31.5 the prior month.
The Survey indicated that employment was also down. The Employment Index in December was 29.9 compared to 34.2 the prior month, a decline of 4.3%.
Manufacturers inventory levels shrank 0.3% to 38.8 in December compared to 39.1 the prior month, though customer inventories rose 2% to an index reading of 57 in December compared to a reading of 55 the prior month, indicating that goods were piling up and that new orders in January would likely continue to decline.
Overall, the ISM indicated that the U.S. economy was continuing to slow. The ISM said that New Orders shrank for the 13th consecutive month to their lowest level on record since January 1948. Order backlogs have fallen to the lowest level since ISM began tracking the Backlog of Orders Index in January 1993.
"Manufacturers are reducing inventories and shutting down capacity to offset the slower rate of activity," Ore indicated.
Yes
Free-traitor...what an appropriate way to label those who espouse the free trade propaganda.
Worked great for the Big Three didn’t it?
Free trade will destroy capitalism...because with no decent jobs people who used to work for a good salary and had benefits will be forced to turn to the government. It’s already happening. Have you heard about Obama’s health initiative? Free traders have bankrupted this country, helped the Democrats get elected (ask anyone from the Mid West why they voted for Obama), and destroyed capitalism...soon to be replace with socialism...thanks free trade.
Go to Walmart...check out where things are made, you will figure it out.
Yes he was... I wish he would have won...we might have jobs in this country instead of mortgage defaults.
Free trade is like Employee free choice. Both are the exact opposite of what they claim to be.
We could never lower wages enough to compete with the third world hell holes ...out jobs were sent to...same old same of free trade bs. Free trade is the devil.
This is completely untrue. Americans are not getting richer. Our standard of living is declining thanks to a free trade policy which has bankrupted this country.
Free trade causes depressions.
If you think a trained monkey could built autos, you have never been near a manufacturing plant. Your ignorance is only exceeded by your arrogance...and elitism.
I am not for card check...You are correct. They are both lies. There is no such thing as free trade...for reasons already described. Also, those who claim companies are pressuring workers not to unionize want a system (card check) that will allow unions to pressure workers to unionize...stupid. I hope the GOP filibusters it.
My last factory job was as a paint process tech painting door skins for Cadillacs.
I wonder how many monkeys can program and maintain robotic painters, conduct all paint room start up and shut down procedures, do nightly inventory and ordering of parts, paints and supplies? I wonder how many monkeys can disassemble and reassemble fluid and air regulators as well as paint pumps. I wonder how many would have the slightest idea what to do with a Zahn cup and a stopwatch?
I did all of those things as well as ran a crew of between 9 and 14 painters for $12 an hour and I did it all as an evil do nothing union thug.
It’s free for the third world and communist countries. They are ‘free’ to loot our domestic economy. They’ve done a terrific job haven’t they?
For years, it was claimed that “free trade” would deflate wages and cause free American citizens to have to compete with slave labor, transfer manufacturing offshore, in short, “free trade” would cause a race to the bottom.
We can clearly see it has done so.
You are ignorant of history.
It had a heavy hand in starting the War Between the States, too.
The biggest government in the history of the US was created by “free trader” President Bush. “free traders”, the transnational corporations included, claim they want less government but they really want to control the government, as opposed to the US Constitution where the people are the masters of the government.
Everything the “free traders” do, undermines the the Constitution and propels us headlong toward communism and socialism. As you know, Karl Marx knew and expected “free trade” would do this.
In fact the Chinese constitution stipulates that the Chinese communist party must own 1/2 of all companies who do business there. This list includes nuclear power construction with Westinghouse Corporation— The US Export-Import bank approved $5 billion in loan guarantees for the Westinghouse bid, as part of a “free trade” deal.
It includes Ford, Motorola, IBM all the companies that used to be US blue chip stocks, but are now trashed and begging for the US taxpayer to bail them out. I guess that means “free trade” is just another name for a tax on American citizens.
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