Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) spent 31 years in manufacturing before his election to Congress last November. He’s not letting that experience go to waste. Johnson is out with a new video this morning to coincide with President Obama’s visit to Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh to promote manufacturing. He criticizes Obama’s recent comments blaming inventions like the ATM for unemployment. “This is a depressing display of economic ignorance,” Johnson says. He adds: “Technological innovations create jobs. They drive our economy forward, by helping workers be more productive. That raises everyone’s …
Paul Krugman recently lamented the fact that in recent years, “manufacturing, once America’s greatest strength, seemed to be in terminal decline.” His analysis, though, misses the mark. He reached this conclusion because “in the 1990s, U.S. manufacturing employment was more or less steady. After 2000, however, it entered a steep decline. The 2001 recession hit industry hard, while the bubble-fueled expansion of the decade’s middle years — an expansion marked by a huge rise in the trade deficit — left manufacturing behind. By December 2007, there were 3.5 million fewer …
This is how Donald Trump recently described China: “They’re making all our products. They’re taking all our jobs. And then they loan the money back and we pay them interest. It’s an amazing phenomenon.” A strong statement, but only one-third of it is true. China is not making all of our products. Imports of goods from China are just 2.5 percent the size of the U.S. economy. China is also not taking all our jobs. According to Heritage Foundation analyst James Sherk, “Research shows that trade has had little effect …
Remember the Pepsi Challenge? All across America in the 70s and 80s, Pepsi held blind taste tests to prove that Americans prefer its soda pop to Coca-Cola. Now Pepsi faces its own challenge and a choice. Would it rather do business in a city that slaps “sin taxes” on its product or move to a friendlier clime? Guess which choice it made. Last year, the Baltimore city council passed a 2-cent tax on bottled beverages. This week, Pepsi decided to cease manufacturing at its Baltimore plant and lay off 77 …
If Congressman Peter Defazio (D–OR), sponsor of the End the Trade Deficit Act, had grown up in Kansas instead of Massachusetts, he might have learned a valuable lesson from an association called the Kansas Agri-Women. In 1978, this group started placing billboards across the state proclaiming, “One Kansas farmer feeds 55 people + YOU.” The Agri-Women regularly had to update their billboards as farmers became more productive. Each year, one Kansas farmer could feed more people than he could the year before. By 1999, the billboards advertised that one Kansas …
For two decades, the word “trade” has been a dividing force in Congress. Its supporters, like me, see trade as a boon to our economy. As the free leader of the world, the U.S. is also one of the largest trading nations, supporting millions of American workers and millions of American jobs. Increased trade is good for America. In the past decade, U.S. exports have nearly doubled to $2 trillion a year. More exports from the U.S. can increase production of American-made products, spurring and stabilizing local jobs while supporting …
Sometimes the best offense is a good defense and sometimes the best action is inaction. With unemployment surpassing 10 percent (go here to watch unemployment grow), Midwestern Congressmen want to ensure that Congress will protect three key areas of their respective state’s economy: agriculture, manufacturing and small business. One sure way to protect these jobs is not to implement climate change legislation. Congressman Bob Latta (R-OH) and 31 more Midwestern Members of Congress sent a letter to the Chairmen and Ranking Members of the House Energy and Commerce, Agriculture, and …
We’re in one of the worst economic downturns our nation has ever faced, and policymakers have rightly expressed their concerns about losing more jobs. Fearing that we’re losing too many jobs overseas through trade pacts, 106 Members of Congress are seeking to revamp U.S. trade policy: Many Democrats on Capitol Hill, however, are unhappy about manufacturing job losses that they blame on trade pacts such as NAFTA and say they do not want to approve any more agreements without some safeguards.” So, politicians want to protect manufacturing jobs, yet they are hastily …
Almost 30 years ago, a steep rise in oil prices drove consumers to buy smaller, more fuel-efficient cars. Cars that American auto manufacturers simply didn’t make. The resulting huge drop in sales drove Chrysler to the brink of bankruptcy, but before the market could play itself out, President Jimmy Carter came in “rescued” Chrysler with $1.2 billion in loan guarantees. At first glance it may appear that Chrysler was saved from bankruptcy. But a closer examination of the record shows that even with the loans, Chrysler went through a quasi-bankruptcy. …
A core belief of the hard core left is that free trade has killed American manufacturing and that increased protectionism is key to bringing it back. Harold Meyerson forwards this world view in today’s Washington Post: The loss of several million manufacturing jobs during the Bush presidency coincides with the first economic recovery in American history in which the average family’s income actually declined. … When you compare Obama’s economic positions to those of John McCain, this should be no contest. McCain has supported every offshoring, free-trade accord, past or …
