“Know Manufacturing” or “No Manufacturing”?
Posted by SCapozzola on February 26th, 2008USA Today asked a great question yesterday—which ManufactureThis will paraphrase here: Since the three leading contenders for president have less executive grounding than anyone elected to the White House in nearly a half-century, and not one has run a small business or large corporation, do they know how to help America’s businesses?
Or, more accurately, do they understand what’s involved in U.S. manufacturing? 
Of late, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have been slugging it out in Ohio over NAFTA. The Washington Post notes an Obama indictment of NAFTA “for the loss of 1 million jobs since 1994,” with Obama pointing a finger at Clinton for supporting the agreement: “in 2004, she said, ‘I think, on balance, NAFTA has been good for New York state and America.’”
Clinton has fired back, saying that the Obama campaign had “unfairly quoted her as saying that NAFTA had been a ‘boon’ for America.” She also noted that it was President George H.W. Bush who actually “negotiated” NAFTA, not her husband. Clinton supporters also take umbrage with Obama’s lack of a voting record on recent free trade agreements.
While it’s nice that both candidates are suddenly recognizing the fall-out from NAFTA, which has dramatically boosted U.S. trade deficits with both Mexico and China, and has cost the U.S. hundreds of thousands of manufacturing jobs, it’s important to see the bigger picture. Of great concern are China’s illegal trade practices, which have “demolished” manufacturing states like Ohio. Simply put, “China cheats,” and ManufactureThis would like both Clinton and Obama to say as much.
Possibly this is where lack of business experience comes in. At AAM’s Town Hall meeting in Chicago last week, Douglas Bartlett, owner of the Illinois printed circuit board company Bartlett Manufacturing, discussed his firsthand experience with China’s illegal currency manipulation. While printed circuit boards remain a crucial dual-use item for both computing needs and military hardware, U.S. suppliers have seen their market share dwindle from $11 billion annually to $4.5 billion. As Bartlett pointed out, his firm can compete with any manufacturer worldwide, but only when the rules of the game are fair, and not illegally stacked against him.
The business of America is business, as Calvin Coolidge once said. It would be nice if America’s presidential candidates stood up clearly for domestic manufacturing and explained how they’ll tackle China’s cheating. Business is not a game.
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April 16th, 2008 at 8:26 am
BE CAREFUL WHO YOU VOTE FOR….
1 Published August 16, 2007 in the Rockford Register Star by Bob Schaper
Rockford—- Senator Barack Obama, D-Ill., is urging Congress to pass the Water Resource Development Act of 2007, which would provide money to strengthen and repair Alpine Dam in northeast Rockford.
EXCERPT: “He goes on to say that we must ensure that our communities can rebuild homes and infrastructure and then safeguard them from natural disasters. The legislation before the would provide priorities with resources needed to reinforce our dams, locks, and ecosystem from extreme flooding.”
This was voted on Sept. 24, 2007 at 05:51 PM by the Senate. Some of those voting for this were: Salazar, Co. D; Stevens, Ar. R; Lott Ms. R ; Clinton NY. D; Isakson Ga. R; But Not Senator Barack Obama for Illinois. He is recorded as NOT VOTING.
This could be jobs in almost every state.
2 Associated Press: Obama said the United States should ‘pursue deals such as the North American Free Trade Agreement.’ “Obama said the United State should continue to work with the World Trade Organization and pursue deals such as the North American Free Trade Agreement.” [AP, 9/8/04]
3 Decatur Herald & Review: ‘Obama said the United States benefits enormously from exports under the WTO and NAFTA.’ “While some people believe NAFTA has been good for U.S. farmers, the trade results could have been better, Keyes said. NAFTA negotiators said the United States might lose manufacturing jobs but would become a service economy, but now those service jobs also are being exported, he said. Obama said the United States benefits enormously from exports under the WTO and NAFTA. He said, at the same time, there must be recognition that the global economy has shifted, and the United States is no longer the dominant economy. ‘We have competition in world trade,’ Obama said. ‘When China devalues its currency 40 percent, we need to bring a complaint before the WTO just as other nations complain about us. If we are to be competitive over the long term, we need free trade but also fair trade.” [Decatur Herald & Review, 9/9/04].