The Truly Good Shape of U.S. Manufacturing

Human Events Online ^ | August 22, 2003 | Bruce Bartlett

[E Rocc]

So in the shell game of 'how great it is' just where did those 3+ million American jobs go?

Keep in mind that if a manufacturing plant has two assistants in accounting, they are "maufacturing" employees. If one goes to work for a CPA firm that contracts to work with the corporation, he's now a "service sector" employee.

-Eric

[1rudeboy]

Gosh, can you imagine what will happen if all those Indians and Chinese learn English and get engineering degrees? They might actually try to come here and become free-market capitalists and put fat, lazy, socialists out of work.

[LibertyAndJusticeForAll]

I never said tariffs were a "first step", but one of many possible choices. Getting rid of OPIC to underwrite the risks of doing business in 3rd world countries with our tax money would be a better first step.
National Security should never be subordinated to other factors. Our trade policy with Communist China is downright suicidal in the long term. That is not based on emotion, but based on current policies and trends.
I was attempting to draw on our own 200 year history of regulating commerce to our benefit. Even Reagan used tariffs to save Harley-Davidson. Common sense and logic are found in abundance in harpseal's list.

The Boston Tea Party article referenced a previous article:
"Free Trade: The Golden Calf of the Republican Party"
http://www.newsmax.com/commentarchive.shtml?a=2000/3/13/083321
[We must look back to our roots, where men like George Washington supported economic measures against the threat of tyranny, because first, “war was a last resort,” and second, he hoped that “starving their trade and manufactures” would bring “their attention to our rights and privileges."]
This was the point of the Boston Tea Party. We have never had a domestic tea industry. England had The East India Company and that was the target.
I do not believe that I have falsely appropriated the motives of the Founding Fathers. I think that you have when you claim that tariffs were just to collect tax revenue.
The "fledgling industry" argument is valid, but national security is stronger and a reality (all emotions aside). From Lieberman to Kissinger to Duncan Hunter, the losses in manufacturing are seen as a threat to our national security.
Have you seen the articles about how the rest of the world views us? Despite our sacrifices and generosity toward building freedom throughout the globe in the last century we are mostly despised. I think now we should look to our own sovereignty, economy and borders.

[WRhine]

In 1970, most women were able to stay at home. Do they have that choice now? Did NAFTA, GATT, or the WTO increase the ability of men to support families?

I've brought this point up many times when debating the Free Traitor lot here and never got a cogent response back. Most in the newer generations are apparently unaware that prior to the mid/late-70s the vast majority of working age men in America could raise a family, buy a house and afford all the basic necessities of life without needing their wives to work. To do this today one must be earning at least 80K--well above the median income level.

Yet that's how it was before our government decided to go down the grossly misnamed "Free Trade" path and sellout out the livelihoods of millions of its own citizens. And I'm sure it's no accident that most Young Americans are unaware that in fact the TRUE standard of living and quality of life was a heck of lot better before these disastrous trade agreements and the dawn of One World Socialism. We can't go talking about that because it might get some folks to start asking a lot of questions.

Any family oriented conservative patriotic American should use that as a benchmark as to how our policies are working. What's the scorecard on that account?

Right On and the scorecard for "Free Trade" is a dismal failure.

[BJungNan]

It is still pretty much there?!

Nope. It is still pretty much disappearing. We have seen a hugh increase in the number of companies inquiring and making the move to set up shop in Mainland China.

American companies have generally been the late comers to set up production in China but will soon have the same presence there as the European countries, Taiwan, Singapore, Austraila.

In a recent column, I argued that the manufacturing sector of the U.S. economy is in relatively good shape

They are overregulated, heavily taxed and hated. That is good shape? The writer of this column is really blind or is a public opinion plant.

[Tauzero]

Excellent rebuttal