Richard McCormack, News Editor and Publisher of Manufacturing and Technology News, speaks at Youngstown State University January 28, 2010 as part of the Williamson College of Business Administration’s symposium on ‘The Future of U.S. Manufacturing.’
Dr. Peter Morici, a professor at the University of Maryland, has published a piece detailing exactly why the U.S. economy is in serious trouble. Among his chief concerns:
Fifteen million Americans are unemployed, more than 450,000 register for new jobless benefits each week, and factoring in folks relegated to part time work but preferring full-time employment and those too discouraged to seek jobs, the unemployment rate is much closer to 20 percent than 10.
Morici sees the unbalanced U.S. trade relationship with China as a major problem:
China exports about $330 billion annually to the United States but purchases less than $90 billion here. Simply, China suppresses the value of the yuan to make its products artificially cheap in U.S. stores and imposes protectionist obstacles to American exports…a 40 percent subsidy from an undervalued yuan and a 25 percent tariff on cars compels General Motors to produce there instead of Michigan.
Morici says that one of the only ways the problem can be addressed is if the President “wells up the courage to confront China and reins in abuses on Wall Street.”
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The U.S. manufactures many things. But sometimes Mother Nature steps in and makes its own product.
Yes, we’re talking about snow– lots of it. The Washington, DC area got hit with a real blizzard over the weekend (and is expecting 5-12 more inches tomorrow). In fact, DC received so much snow that many offices are closed today. AAM Executive Director Scott Paul reports that the accumulated snow looks like it’s taller than his toddlers. And AAM’s Lauren Lally submitted a few photos, below.
We’ll keep you posted.
A coalition of U.S. manufacturers has compiled compelling evidence that certain companies subject to antidumping orders are costing the U.S. Treasury at least $84 million annually due to their deliberate evasion of the antidumping duties. In addition, more than 275 jobs have been lost in the innerspring and hanger industries alone, and additional jobs are threatened by these ongoing schemes to avoid antidumping duties.
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Here’s a photo of an AAM staffer’s front stairs at 10 am this past Saturday night, when the snowstorm was just starting.
Little Falls, Minnesota: Brunswick Corp. is closing its boat factory. 180 employees will lose their jobs.
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Apologies…Early Shift is snow delayed today.
Elite opinion blather by Fareed Zakaria on U.S.-China relations.
Followed by elite opinion blather by John Harwood on Obama’s trade policy.
China’s sovereign wealth fund is buying stakes in major U.S. companies.
Melamine found again in 100 tons of milk powder in China.
Jobs bill debate to get underway soon in the Senate.
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Lynn Tilton, CEO of Patriarch Partners, is worried. She says that “every great empire has been built on a manufacturing economy…The fall of every empire has been the failure to remember that one fundamental fact.”
ManufactureThis keeps saying the same thing. And Tilton makes a good point, namely that the U.S. cannot thrive as simply a service-based economy.
Watch a VIDEO interview of Tilton.
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Richard McCormack, News Editor and Publisher of Manufacturing and Technology News, speaks at Youngstown State University January 28, 2010 as part of the Williamson College of Business Administration’s symposium on ‘The Future of U.S. Manufacturing.’
As many of you know, ManufactureThis reports about China’s numerous transgressions on an almost daily basis, including cheating at the rules of world trade.
Interestingly, China ranks at #4 among countries reading our blog. In fact, the Top 5 looks like this:
1. United States
2. Canada
3. United Kingdom
4. China
5. India
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