Pennsylvania has lost 130,000 factory jobs in 2 years

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette ^ | Friday, July 04, 2003 | Jim McKay

[Willie Green]

The nation's unemployment rate shot up to 6.4 percent in June, the highest level in more than nine years, as businesses cut payrolls by a total of 30,000 jobs -- many of them on the factory floor.

Since July 2000, the nation's factories have cut 2.6 million jobs, and 130,000 of them in Pennsylvania. That works out to roughly one in seven factory jobs in the state.

[Willie Green]

The Zoellick/Bush administration continues to assault the economic prosperity of the American Middle Class.

[livius]

So? Who wants to work in a factory? Go out and get another job, start your own business, retrain and do something entirely different, go back to school and finish that degree...that's what my family did.

What did yours do? Wait for the government to support them for the rest of their lives?

[groanup]

"The Zoellick/Bush administration continues to assault the economic prosperity of the American Middle Class"

So go vote democRAT. THAT will bring about economic prosperity for sure dude.

[Willie Green]

The Road to Productive Wealth

The only true key to wealth lies in production. While you can increase your own wealth at the expense of others, we all become wealthier when productive resources are increased. Greater wealth for our economy lies in increasing the quantity or quality of productive resources -- labor, capital, and natural resources. This is done by investing in education, capital goods, research and development, and technology.

Manufacturing, along with mining, agriculture and construction, are the primary wealth creating sectors of our economy. When there is a significant loss of manufacturing capabilities, our nation's ability to create wealth and prosperity similarly declines. That includes you and your family, even though you may not be employed in the manufacturing sector.

[Willie Green]

Bush as Clinton: A terrible cost

[rvoitier]

More like union muscle-head governor Rendell's policies of taxing manufacturers out of prosperity.

[waterstraat]

Unlike past recessions, even the depression, those jobs are not coming back, never coming back. The factories that moved to china will never again employ american workers.

Sooner or later, the chinese and the Indians, will see that they use chinese material, and chinese labor, and chinese factories, and will realize that they dont need american companies getting any profit from it. All american companies in china will eventually be replace by chinese owned and operated factories. At some point in time, Black and Decker, Intel, Lifesavers, etc will be kicked out of china.

[Willie Green]

More like union muscle-head governor Rendell's policies of taxing manufacturers out of prosperity.

There are a lot of things wrong with Rendell.
But these losses accumulated over the last 2 years and he's only been in office 5½ months.

Prior to that, the Governor's chair was occupied by the GOP.

Your attempt to shift blame is transparently shallow.

[rvoitier]

Would that be the same 5.5 months George Bush had in office before another rat named McCauliffe was yelling about how 2 million jobs were lost even though the economy was already on a downturn when he took over, hmmm?

That's what I thought. You rats can't have it both ways.

[longtermmemmory]

This article is laying the groundwork for class warfare. Tax THEM to give US properity.

The problem is that many of the jobs lost were good paying jobs for unskilled people. Corporations are over paying top dollar for mere labor. Just an impression. People are not viewed as assets. Workers are just a resource to be managed like raw materials or the paperclips.

[Princeliberty]

A lot of people would love to have a blue collar
job at a factory. You are saying there is
something wrong with working at factory?
Now that's the attitude of the big money
liberals. The factors are going away
because of things like our pro-China policies,
were they use slave labor exports to destroy
our industries. I supposed the 13th and 14th
Amendment's should be repealed so we can compete
better. It would be great for business and profits!

[Princeliberty]

The Irony is Bush is doing more harm to
nation that Clinton did.
We are actually worse off than if
Gore had won.

[Monty22]

How would gore have stopped job emmigration? And especially, how would he have helped the bubble from collapsing? By building it even bigger?

[Princeliberty]

Bush has been doing all he can to make the bubbles
bigger and to export jobs.
The difference is you and the other conservatives
would be slamming him all over the place for
it and for once we could have a real debate
on trade.
Further, Gore could not have expanded Government
the way Bush has because he would faced
strong opposition form conservatives,
but being a Republican he gets little or not opposition
to expanding government.

[SauronOfMordor]

Sooner or later, the chinese and the Indians, will see that they use chinese material, and chinese labor, and chinese factories, and will realize that they dont need american companies getting any profit from it. All american companies in china will eventually be replace by chinese owned and operated factories. At some point in time, Black and Decker, Intel, Lifesavers, etc will be kicked out of china.

It's already happening. Take a look at WalMart, Sears, mail-order firms, etc. They buy Chinese products direct from factory, stick their own "store-brand" labels on them, and sell them for a lot less than the "brand name" products. A cursory side-by-side comparison of a lot of these products will show them to be just as good as the branded products. And why not? they're made in the same factories by the same people

[longtermmemmory]

soft of a tangent:

The LouisVitton factories are located in mexico. The workers smuggle the same materials home and make knock offs. The knock offs are made by the same people and same materials as the ones shipped out of the factory.

The reason to hesitate installing your factory overseas was the threat of nationalizing factories. China has mastered the art of using shell private companies for government aquisitions. (ie chinas onership of both openings of the panema canal. thanks carter)

I had the same concern with Japanese car factories in the USA. Big deal, they still used the Japanese company suppliers and all profits go to the home country.

What is describe with the knock off products, is more a need for intelectual property control to prevent knock offs. Also we need truth in advertising to let consumers know where the product is made and how close it is to the original. (ie this drill is blue that one is orange, but they have the IDENTICAL insides)

[longtermmemmory]

soft = sort

[Tacis]

It is never just lower wage rates. Most of the 130,000 jobs in Pennsylvania were union jobes. They are gone but my bet is that very few union officials missed a pay check, any expense account reimbursement, or lost any benefits.

The unions will not spend any of their resources on unemployed members who no longer pay ddues. The large amounts of cash the unions have left will go to support democrap candidates who, if they win, will raise even higher, the cost of doing business in Pennsylvania.

The costs associated with making unions and union officials fat are what drive jobs out of Pennsylvania.

[Domestic Church]

My hubby was laid off last fall and just got a new job finally at half his old pay. The positions he applied for were all across the nation. We heard that often there were close to 3000 resumes for each position. It has been grueling and I expect it to be even more as we are long past our prime. Many of your suggestions require funds that aren't available to the unemployed or are too difficult due to common family situations.