U.S. Manufacturing Crisis: White House Talks, but Defense Industry Walks (Overseas)

TradeAlert.org ^ | Wednesday, October 08, 2003 | William R. Hawkins

[Boxsford]

For what it's worth here is what Bush said today on the economy: We're making good progress on the economy; looks like we're growing, and that's important. Last month we -- people are finding work, but we're not satisfied with the progress that is being made. We talked about ways to continue the economic vitality of our country. The tax cuts need to be made permanent so there's certainty in the tax code. We need an energy plan so that our businesses and employers, both large and small, know there's a reliable source of energy available.

We talked about trade and this administration's commitment to free and fair trade, that administrative officials will continue to press certain countries to open up their markets to U.S. product.

[LibertyAndJusticeForAll]

Most appropriate, thanks.
I found this variation attributed to Benjamin Franklin, but it appears to be a Nursery Song and an old proverb or cautionary tale, (but not memorized by enough Americans).

For want of a Nail the Shoe was lost; for want of a Shoe the Horse was lost and for want of a Horse, the Rider was lost; being overtaken and slain by the enemy, all for want of Care about a Horse-shoe Nail.
- BENJAMIN FRANKLIN, POOR RICHARD'S ALMANACK

[Scott from the Left Coast]

I lost my job 6 months ago. But politics is not going to help me get another, and political changes anyway are too marginal and too long in coming to make any difference in my life anyway. Political changes are NEVER dramatic, and occur over long periods of time. The effects of political changes are usually subtle, compared to the business cycle. If I wait for politics to provide an answer, my wife and I will starve to death in the meantime!

Like I suspect your husband feels, it's simply up to me to do what I can to get another somewhere. I can't think that someone else, or some political process, will come around to save me. I've just got to find some way on my own.

[RiflemanSharpe]

Bush is not to blame regarding the cause, but he is in the drivers seat regarding the fixes.

Hear, Hear!!! He needs to step on the gas.

[Voltage]

Bush is not to blame regarding the cause, but he is in the drivers seat regarding the fixes.

A good start would be eliminating about 50% of what the federal government does, half of the agencies should close. I would keep the Army, AirForce, Navy and Marines and that is about it!

[harpseal]

All some of these executives see is the number of people in China not the government.

[LibertyAndJusticeForAll]

And, what short-sightedness! I cannot imagine that the PRC bought light bulbs for more than 5 years from GE.
By then, they probably had their own factory and never bought another product from GE.
I see this as the end result of any corporation offshoring or setting up shop in Red China. It has started already with such disparate products as Wrigley's Gum and Cisco's routers.

[hedgetrimmer]

Walmart moved their corporate headquarters to China.

[Boxsford]

Like I suspect your husband feels, it's simply up to me to do what I can to get another somewhere. I can't think that someone else, or some political process, will come around to save me. I've just got to find some way on my own.

You nailed it. Your entire post. Exactly. Yes, my husband did have the same exact attitude you have. And he found a job. You will too. It's incredibly painful and I'd not want to go through it again for anything but we did learn some valuable lessons that could not have been learned any other way.

[EverOnward]

bump -- thanks for keeping these articles coming --

[Willie Green]

You're quite welcome -- and thank YOU!!!

[blueriver]

I can't think that someone else, or some political process, will come around to save me. I've just got to find some way on my own.

So in your opinion we should do nothing to try to change the direction things are heading because it won't help you in your situation. Apathy will be our downfall.

[Lael]

By letting private business desires override considerations of national security and economic revival, the Bush Administration is revealing why it cannot be trusted to back its high-sounding rhetoric about manufacturing and job growth with effective action. As long as the corporate managers who want to send jobs overseas and buy foreign-made goods have influence in the White House, policy will continue to be made in their special interest, while the needs of domestic American enterprises and their workers will be dismissed.”

Shrub, aka Bush, is a one termer.

Let's BOTTOM LINE it...We are well into the Second Quarter of the FOURTH promised SECOND HALF UPTURN since Bushco took office.

Layoffs and OFFSHORE OUTSOURCING are ACCELERATING.

After the Holiday Shopping season, Staff reductions and concommitent offshoring accelerate, in anticipation that a DEMOCRAT President will "slam the door."

In other words, "All's Offshore that's Going Offshore" in the hope that the damage will be "Grandfathered."

Around February, expect a 'California recall' size Tectonic Shift to hit the National Political scene.

Of course, the Stupid Party is too, well, STUPID to see the approaching Cataract of DISASTER on November 2, 2004.

And, in Delicious irony, the election is at the EARLIEST date possible...Nov.2, 2004 IS the First Tuesday after the First Monday in November!! Hence, there will be less time to "talk up" hunters at the local sporting goods store about DemocRATS and gun control in crucial blue collar states.

Shrub, er, Bush is, like father like son, a ONE TERMER!!

[A. Pole]

My husband was downsized out of his job and we had no income for 14 months. I'm not about to blame Bush at the ballot as Willie Green would like us to. Bush inherited this problem.

He wasted a few years.

[Euro-American Scum]

what Bush should learn from the California recall election: an electorate angry about the economy and jobs can hurt you real bad.

Which is why you should look for the flood tide of jobs going offshore to slow to a trickle in the next year or so. And I submit that's already happening.

Unemployment has slowed a bit (and just a bit). And there is a hint of net job creation being reported by the major media (although they're vague about just what kind).

I suspect you won't see the stampede of offshoring to resume until after 2004, which will conveniently put Bush in the White House for a second term. In the meantime, look for the AWB to be renewed by GWB, as promised, with more punative anti-gun measures to come.

A poverty-stricken middle class must be a disarmed middle class, you see.

[Euro-American Scum]

All three had been touch by lay offs this month, a spouse laid off, watch coworkers laid off Monday, or their company had anounceed lay offs to occure Oct. 15th. The powers that be need to start paying attention to this. The election is coming up.

I took a Microsoft SQL Server course from UC Irvine Extension earlier in the year. The instructor was an H1-B from Sarawak. There were two Russian H1-Bs, an Indian L1 and three Chinese programmers who could barely speak English. All were being financed by U.S. government grants.

The powers that be are paying attention to this. They just don't care about it.

[Euro-American Scum]

In response to the growing political agitation over the “jobless recovery” and the loss of manufacturing jobs under the impact of imports and outsourcing, the Bush Administration has launched a media campaign touting the importance of industry to the economy and the nation´s security.

Media campaign, eh? Well, that ought to take care of the problem.

[NRA2BFree]

Thanks for the ping!

This is quite a mess alright. What is Bush thinking about? IF he breaks the back of the economy by outsourcing how is America going to pay the billions of dollars to ALL the world he has promised it too? He just doesn't care about Americans! It's time we faced it.

[RiflemanSharpe]

The powers that be are paying attention to this. They just don't care about it.

I hate to say it but I am beginning to think they do care, just not about Americans.

[riri]

Denim maker Cone Mills to cut 625 jobs in plant closings
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

CLIFFSIDE, N.C. (AP) - Cone Mills, the world's largest denim maker, announced Wednesday it would eliminate 625 jobs when it closes two North Carolina denim plants within the next 60 days.

John L. Bakane, Cone Mills' chief executive, blamed a reduced market demand that has been severely weakened by the recent flood of low-cost imports from Asia.

"The steps we have announced today are necessary in order for the company to remain competitive in an environment where unfair trade policies are decimating the U.S. textile industry," Bakane said in a news release.

Cone Mills' future has been under local scrutiny since it announced last month it would file bankruptcy to clear the way for a sale to financier Wilbur Ross.

Both Ross and Cone officials have indicated that part of the transaction would include merging Cone Mills' denim operations with those of Burlington Industries, which Ross acquired this summer in a bankruptcy sale.

The closings announced Wednesday will affect the Haynes Plant in Avondale and the Cliffside Finishing Plant.

The operations at the Cliffside Weave Plant will also be reduced, leaving about 225 employed.

The cut does not affect Rutherford County's Cone Jacquards Plant, which employs about 245. However, the fate of that operation remains uncertain because of the bankruptcy and sale.

Founded in 1891, Cone Mills makes the fabric for Levi's jeans, among others. It employs more than 3,000 people in five factories in the Carolinas, along with a joint venture in Mexico.