Sometimes you read something so dumb that you’re left speechless.  In the New York Times today, Robert Reich discusses how the U.S. economy is in big trouble.  He says that we’re “sliding into recession, or worse.”  That part’s self-evident.  One look out the window and you can see the storm clouds gathering.

Reich then notes the importance of lifting wages for working Americans as a way to help the economy: “The only lasting remedy…is to give middle- and lower-income Americans more buying power.”  

So far so good, right?  Who could object? 

But then Reich states: “The answer is not to protect jobs through trade protection. That would only drive up the prices of everything purchased from abroad. Most routine jobs are being automated anyway.”

Such ignorance on his part.  

Mr. Reich seems to forget that manufacturing jobs pay extremely well, and have the additional benefit of creating other good-paying jobs through a multiplier effect.  This is one surefire way to inject helpful purchasing power directly into the economy.

Furthermore, manufacturing jobs are not “automated.”  Modern manufacturing work, with which Mr. Reich is painfully unaware, often requires the skills to operate hi-tech computerized machinery.  Manufacturing workers are paid well precisely because they have the skills to operate machining gear, for example, calibrated to one-ten thousandth of an inch.

When these workers lose their factory jobs, however, they tumble down the wage scale to hourly work in retail or fast food.  These service sector jobs do not pay well– and they do NOT boost the earning power of American families.

Mr. Reich is correct to say that “The only way to keep the economy going over the long run is to increase the wages of the bottom two-thirds of Americans.”  Unfortunately, he has no idea how to do so. 

What’s needed is to create good-paying jobs, and one avenue is to strengthen American manufacturing.

“Trade protection” is a poor term, and it’s inappropriate.  What is needed is strong enforcement of existing U.S. trade law to tackle the illegal, protectionist tactics of countries like China, who utilize currency manipulation in violation of world trade law, to undercut honest American manufacturers.

Why not simply do the right thing and create a level playing field so that American manufacturers, who do play the rules, can create the jobs necessary to sustain a middle class?  If we don’t, we’re in real trouble.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 13th, 2008 at 9:53 am and is filed under Manufacturing in the U.S., Economic Security. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.