Manufacture This » Manufacturing in the U.S.

Aliquippa, PA

Posted by SCapozzola on October 22nd, 2008

Yes, AAM is right now holding a Town Hall meeting in Aliquippa, PA. We’re live-blogging at our second ‘Keep it Made in America’ program of the week.

Republican Congressional Candidate Melissa Hart discussed trade policy and now her opponent, Rep. Jason Altmire (D-PA, 4th district) is offering similar remarks. AAM events are always non-partisan and so all candidates in any local race are invited to discuss how they’ll help strengthen American manufacturing.

Earlier Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley (D-MD) welcomed the more than 400 attendees at our event. It’s a very packed house tonight.

In a few minutes, we’ll start our panel discussion, featuring return appearances from David Pasquale of Col-Fin Specialty Steel and John DeFazio of the Pennsylvania Steelworkers. AAM’s Scott Paul and Kerri Houston Toloczko will round out the group.

A post-script: it’s cold out here in Western Pennsylvania. Earlier today, when we did a live interview with Louie Free at WASN 1500AM in Youngstown, OH, a few stray flakes of snow were falling at mid-day. We’re fired up, though, and rolling down the highway.
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On the Airwaves, In the Heartland

Posted by SCapozzola on October 21st, 2008

AAM held a ‘Keep it Made in America’ Town Hall meeting in Greensburg, Pennsylvania last night. Both of the district’s Congressional candidates, Rep. Tim Murphy (R-PA) and Steve O’Donnell (D-PA), discussed their views on U.S. trade policy. AAM Director Scott Paul led a panel discussion on manufacturing that featured a number of speakers, including David Pasquale, President of Col-Fin Specialty Steel, and John DeFazio, Director of the Pennsylvania United Steelworkers.

The Pittsburgh Tribune Review’s Joe Napsha quoted Dave Pasquale regarding his firsthand experiences: “It is difficult to maintain a market share when you get (trade) pressure from China, from South America and Canada,” Pasquale said. He said that cheap labor and unfair trade — where countries subsidize their manufacturers — erode the American manufacturing base.

As we type this, AAM is being interviewed live on the Dan Rivers show, WKBN 570AM, Youngstown, OH. AAM’s Scott Paul and Kerri Houston are serving on a panel that includes local manufacturers and academics. You can tune-in live by clicking here.

At 2 pm today, AAM will visit with Louie Free, WASN, Youngstown, OH. You can tune in live by clicking here.

Tonight we’ll have another Town Hall meeting in Aliquippa, PA.

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Rolling into Pennsylvania

Posted by SCapozzola on October 20th, 2008

With the autumn leaves turning orange and red, AAM has rolled into Western Pennsylvania for the start of our Pennsylvania ‘Keep it Made in America’ tour. ManufactureThis attended this morning’s press conference held at the United Steelworkers headquarters in Pittsburgh. Steelworkers Vice President Tom Conway joined AAM Executive Director Scott Paul in launching the week’s tour. Scott Paul noted that, inexplicably, manufacturing was never discussed at any of the four presidential debates.

As we type this, we’re in Greensburg, Pennsylvania for tonight’s program at the Palace Theater. We’re expecting a packed house. And that’s because, whether the media focuses on it or not, manufacturing job loss is a key issue this fall.

Stay tuned for more notes from the road…

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Touring Detroit

Posted by SCapozzola on October 16th, 2008

AAM’s Town Hall Tour rolled into Detroit and Cincinnati this week–and just in time, judging by the looks of downtown Detroit. Any trek through Detroit, or much of the Industrial Midwest, makes clear that job losses and hard times have really crunched people pretty hard.

Much of Detroit is shuttered. Stores and homes are boarded up. Once vibrant communities appear desolate. A trek past Seven Mile Road and Eight Mile Road shows that nothing is doing. At one point near a boarded up business, someone on a motorized lawn mower was cutting the grass and weeds that have sprouted through a large, cracked lot of vacant asphalt.

AAM’s Monday night Town Hall meeting received widespread media coverage. WXYZ-ABC TV’s reporter Tom Wait covered the event and his report is available here. AAM Director Scott Paul also appeared live in-studio on WDET (NPR, Detroit) this past Monday. That broadcast is available here. Listeners should look for WDET Program Archives and select Oct. 13, 2008, ‘Detroit Today.’

As the Detroit Free Press reported, AAM’s Detroit Town Hall featured speaking appearances by both of Michigan’s Senators Debbie Stabenow (D-MI) and Carl Levin (D-MI).

The Cincinnati Town Hall also brought in a concerned audience. Ohio has lost more than 243,800 manufacturing jobs since 2000, and its residents can feel the effects of this downsizing. The panel discussion featured commentary from Ohio manufacturer Bruce Cain, who talked about his firtshand experiences with the inequities of foreign VAT taxes as well as subsidized competition from China.

At both Town Halls, AAM premiered its new song “America This Year.”

AAM continues its Town Hall Tour next week, with five more events. Stay tuned.

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Can We Create More Manufacturing Jobs?

Posted by CTracI on October 14th, 2008

Our readers can attest that as the financial crisis has been heating up, ManufactureThis has been disappointed that almost none of the discussion about what should be done to fix the problem has mentioned what ManufactureThis feels is an absolutely critical component in any long-term recovery, the need for the American economy to be rebuilt in a way that is based on manufacturing actual products, not just exotic financial instruments.

Not to be overly self-referential, but the debates have been particularly troubling in their almost total lack of discussion of the need to create new manufacturing jobs.

With that as background, ManufactureThis was pleased yesterday to see that one of the presidential candidates, Sen. Barack Obama, gave a major economic address in Toledo, OH and released what the campaign calls “Barack Obama and Joe Biden’s Rescue Plan for the Middle Class.”

In his speech, Sen. Obama pointed out the effect the economic climate (even apart from the current crisis) has had on jobs and manufacturing.

The credit crisis has left businesses large and small unable to get loans, which means they can’t buy new equipment, or hire new workers, or even make payroll for the workers they have. You’ve got auto plants right here in Ohio that have been around for decades closing their doors and laying off workers who’ve never known another job in their entire life.

760,000 workers have lost their jobs this year. Unemployment here in Ohio is up 85% over the last eight years, which is the highest it’s been in sixteen years. You’ve lost one of every four manufacturing jobs, the typical Ohio family has seen their income fall $2,500, and it’s getting harder and harder to make the mortgage, or fill up your gas tank, or even keep the electricity on at the end of the month. At this rate, the question isn’t just “are you better off than you were four years ago?”, it’s “are you better off than you were four weeks ago?”

Later in the speech, Obama reiterated the issue that we are glad to see someone finally paying attention to, when he said that his plan “begins with one word that’s on everyone’s mind, and it’s spelled
J-O-B-S.”

Noted Change Enthusiast Sen. Barack Obama outlines his Middle Class Rescue Plan in Toledo, OH

Still, as nice as it is to hear Sen. Obama address this issue, it’s also important to see what exactly he is proposing. To that end, we turn to the Rescue Plan the campaign released. In particular, two of the proposals stand out:

A New American Jobs Tax Credit. Obama will provide a new temporary tax credi to companies that add jobs here in the United States. During 2009 and 2010, existing businesses will receive a $3,000 refundable tax credit for each additional full-time employee hired. For example, if a company that currently has 10 U.S. employees increases its domestic full time employment to 20 employees, this company would get a $30,000 tax credit–enough to offset the entire added payroll tax costs to the company for the first $50,000 of income for the new employees. The tax credit will benefit all companies creating net new jobs, even those struggling to make a profit.

ManufactureThis applauds this commonsense solution to a simple problem. If the problem is that companies are finding it too expensive to create American jobs instead of offshoring production, what government can and shold do is to create incentives that make it a sound economic decision to create good jobs here at home. While this may not be a silver bullet, this is the sort of clear, reasonable policy that will, if enacted, lead to the creation of more manufacturing jobs.

Partner with America’s automakers to help save jobs and ensure that the next generation of clean vehicles is built here in the United States. Senator Obama pushed for $50 billion in loan guarantees to help the auto industry retool, develop new battery technologies and produce the next generation of fuel efficient cars here in America. Congress passed only half of this amount – it is critical that the administration speeds up the implementation of the first half and that Congress move quickly to increase certainty by enacting the second half. In addition, Obama believes that with the tremendous uncertainty facing the auto industry, and the small and medium business suppliers who depend on them, it is critical that we keep all options on the table for helping them weather the financial crisis.

ManufactureThis is pleased to see that the plan mentions battery technology specifically, because it is of major concern that ending our addiction to foreign oil, while a laudable goal for many reasons, will not help the American economy if we replace it with an addiction to foreign-made batteries. Right now, Japanese and Chinese companies are cornering the market on such items as lithium-ion batteries for hybrid cars, and we need to catch up. The Advanced Technology Vehicle program Obama describes here, which was recently – finally – funded in the Continuing Resolution is a positive step toward empowering American companies to reinvest in new technologies and ensure that the components of the oft-discussed green economy, like flex fuel vehicles and like hybrid batteries, are made here in America.

Overall, there is a lot to like about the Obama plan, but, as always, there are many potential pitfalls between page and practice. It’s important that Obama and everyone else keep their eye on the ball, because while programs to create jobs are desperately needed, it is also critical that the jobs created be good, well-paid jobs in sustainable sectors like manufacturing.

(Editor’s Note: ManufactureThis is a nonpartisan blog, and as such we will also gladly discuss any proposals the McCain campaign will make about jobs. Over the past couple of days, first Lindsey Graham said the campaign would be issuing new policy proposals, then Tucker Bounds said they weren’t, and then this morning Douglas Holtz-Eakin said they would. Regardless of what they eventually decide, should any new policies actually be proposed to help create jobs, they will be covered here.)

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Rolling Down the Highway

Posted by SCapozzola on October 10th, 2008

The Associated Press’s Dan Sewell reports that Barack Obama is undertaking a two-day bus tour through Ohio to focus on jobs and the economy. Well, what a total coincidence—AAM is also doing a tour through Ohio and the Midwest right now, too.

AAM has launched a ‘Keep it Made in America’ Town Hall tour that took us to Columbus, Ohio last week. This Monday we’ll be in the Detroit area, followed by a return to Ohio (Cincinnati) on Tuesday night. All in all, we’re doing nine cities this month.

Maybe Obama’s tour is patterned after AAM’s:

Battleground Campaign Challenges Candidates on Manufacturing Crisis, China’s Unfair Trade Policies

Town Hall Meetings, TV and Newspaper Ads Scheduled for
New York, Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin

WASHINGTON, DC. Sept. 26, 2008 – Placing the issues of job loss and unfair trade squarely in the middle of the 2008 election, the Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM) today launched a public information campaign highlighting the importance of manufacturing jobs in an economy roiled by financial excess. The group will host nine national Town Hall meetings to emphasize its message.

A series of nine “Keep it Made in America” Town Hall meetings gets underway on Wednesday, Oct. 1, in Rochester, N.Y. Others include: Columbus, Ohio (Oct. 6); Royal Oak, Mich. (Oct. 13); Cincinnati (Oct. 14); Greensburg, Pa. (Oct. 20); Aliquippa, Pa. (Oct. 21); Northampton, Pa. (Oct. 22); Wilkes-Barre, Pa. (Oct. 23); Green Bay, Wis. (Oct. 28).
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Town Hall Meetings in Troubled Times

Posted by SCapozzola on October 9th, 2008

As the nation’s economic crisis rolls along, AAM is pressing forward with several high-powered Town Hall meetings next week. In both Royal Oak, MI, and Cincinnati, OH, AAM is pulling together panel discussions with trade experts, local business and labor leaders, and elected officials to discuss the need to save U.S. manufacturing jobs and overcome the devastating impact of the U.S. trade deficit.

Both Ohio and Michigan have been hard-hit by manufacturing job losses in the past 8 years, losing more than 243,800 and 279,200 factory jobs respectively since 2000.

The October 13 program at the Royal Oak Music Theatre in Royal Oak—a suburb of Detroit—will include the participation of two United States Senators, Carl Levin (D-MI) and Debbie Stabenow (D-MI). The panel discussion will feature: Laurie Moncrieff, President, Schmald Tool & Die, Inc., Burton, MI; Bert Phillips, General Manager-Automotive, United States Steel Corporation Auto Center, Troy, MI; Mark Gaffney, President, Michigan AFL-CIO; Michael Bolton, Director, United Steelworkers District 2; and Melissa Damaschke, The Sierra Club.

The October 14 program at the Frisch Theater—part of the Cincinnati Zoo’s educational buildings, will include a panel discussion with: Scott Paul, Executive Director, Alliance for American Manufacturing; Doug Sizemore, Executive Secretary-Treasurer, Cincinnati AFL-CIO Labor Council; Bruce Cain, President, Xcel Mold and Machine, Inc.; Representative, Ohio Chapter, American Mold Builder’s Association; and, a representative of the Blue-Green Alliance.

The following week, AAM’s ‘Keep it Made in America’ Town Hall Tour will move on to another key presidential and congressional battleground state where manufacturing job loss has become a key issue, Pennsylvania.

Click here for more information on AAM’s Fall 2008 Town Hall meetings.

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Even the Rope!

Posted by CTracI on October 8th, 2008

If there’s one thing ManufactureThis loves, it’s a fine turn of phrase. So much the better when the fine turn of phrase is in the service of educating people on an important issue. To that end, we present this, from our friends over at Campaign for America’s Future: