We've Become a Nation of Takers, Not Makers

[TastesLikeChicken]

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2011/jan/31/T2NEWSO1-us-still-leads-world-in-manufacturing-pro/

WASHINGTON - U.S. factories are closing. American manufacturing jobs are reappearing overseas. China's industrial might is growing each year.
It also might seem as if the United States doesn't make world-class goods as well as some other nations.

"There's no reason Europe or China should have the fastest trains, or the new factories that manufacture clean energy products," President Barack Obama said in his State of the Union address last week.

Yet America remains by far the No. 1 manufacturing country. It out-produces No. 2 China by more than 40 percent. U.S. manufacturers cranked out nearly $1.7 trillion in goods in 2009, according to the United Nations.

The story of American factories essentially boils down to this: They've managed to make more goods with fewer workers.

The United States has lost nearly 8 million factory jobs since manufacturing employment peaked at 19.6 million in mid-1979. U.S. manufacturers have ranked near the top of world rankings in productivity gains over the past three decades.

That higher productivity has meant a leaner manufacturing force that's capitalized on efficiency.
"You can add more capability, but it doesn't mean you necessarily have to hire hundreds of people," says James Vitak, a spokesman for specialty chemical maker Ashland Inc.

What's changed is that U.S. manufacturers have abandoned products with thin profit margins, like consumer electronics, toys and shoes. They've ceded that sector to China, Indonesia and other emerging nations with low labor costs.

Instead, American factories have seized upon complex and expensive goods requiring specialized labor: industrial lathes, computer chips, fighter jets, health-care products.

Consider Greatbatch Inc., which makes orthopedics and other medical goods. The company is expanding its manufacturing operations near Fort Wayne, Ind. Greatbatch wanted to take advantage of a specialized work force in northeastern Indiana, a hub of medical research and manufacturing.

CEO Thomas Hook says the United States offers advantages over poorer, low-wage countries: reliable supplies of electricity and water, decent roads.

Centerline Machining & Grinding in Hobart, Wis., which makes custom parts for manufacturers in the paper industry, plans to add to its staff of 26. However, it's struggling to find the skilled tradesmen it needs for jobs paying $18 to $25 an hour.

The US is still number 1 by a large margin, and we also own the Services sector as well which, for some reason, is discarded as meaningless while any number of countries would love to be in our shoes. It will be a while yet before the US loses its position as king in either field.

 

[jhu]

Manufacturing $ being high while manufacturing jobs continually decline says to me that the corporations are benefiting and the rest of us are losing. That matches the decline in real wages over the past 40+ years.

WTF are they manufacturing? I can count on one hand the things I own that were manufactured here.

Just try to buy a piece of electronics made here. They don't exist. You can't even buy electronics made in Japan or Taiwan anymore. They all outsourced to China.

We manufacture plenty of items here in the USA: vehicles, drugs/chemicals, fuel, foodstuff, microprocessors/IC chips, etc. We just use less people to make more things. Take Intel for example. Most chips they make are made in the USA (more than half of their fabs are on US soil). However, all of their assembly sites are in Asia for some reason.

It'll be a few years, but the Chinese will be outsourcing their low-margin product manufacturing to Africa.

 

[wuliheron]

WTF are they manufacturing? I can count on one hand the things I own that were manufactured here.

Weapons are the single largest manufactured export. The US produces 40% of the weapons sold worldwide while other countries are lucky to produce 5% and sales are close to cold war levels. Not the cheap crap either, but the expensive stuff. If you want a cheap gun talk to the Russians.

 

[Naeeldar]

CSC?

Wouldn't announce here even if I was. But there are about 500 companies out there that provide the services I described to govt.

 

[Gonad the Barbarian]

Government should largely be an employer of last resort. We do in fact have a problem when

... in recent years only government agencies have been hiring, and because the offer of near lifetime security is highly valued in these times of economic turbulence. When 23-year-olds aren't willing to take career risks, we have a real problem on our hands.

A very large problem. But that's not the fault of the employee as the article wants to imply. Of course so many in this country are risk averse about their career when they and their families' literal life depends on it. Very few private career paths offer security with the ever increasing production efficiencies that occur. That by definition means less reliance on labor. And that's before what labor demand that does exist is filled by outsourcing. It's not really a good article at all, just a government & union hit piece that doesn't address the crux of the issue of why we are heading in this direction. Slamming shut the little job security that exists here is not going to fix the underlying problem, which is, as the article pretty dismissively states, "in recent years only government agencies have been hiring."

 

[dmcowen674]

I warned everyone when Bush started the selling out of the country and you all said it was a good thing so suck it up.

 

[MotF Bane]

I warned everyone when Bush started the selling out of the country and you all said it was a good thing so suck it up.

That's why you voted for him, right? :awe:

 

[nonlnear]

Wouldn't announce here even if I was. But there are about 500 companies out there that provide the services I described to govt.

Yeah, but I was feeling lucky.

 

[LumbergTech]

nevermind

 

[Engineer]

http://www2.tbo.com/content/2011/jan/31/T2NEWSO1-us-still-leads-world-in-manufacturing-pro/


The US is still number 1 by a large margin, and we also own the Services sector as well which, for some reason, is discarded as meaningless while any number of countries would love to be in our shoes. It will be a while yet before the US loses its position as king in either field.

We are?

 

[irishScott]

translation: USA manufacturing is stronger than ever before, but now Americans are buying things from China as well

USA is still a very strong country. Doom is not around the corner. Not even close.

This. I love it when I hear some evangelicals I know point to the economy as one of the signs of judgement day, and then I point out that the world didn't end in The Great Depression, which was far worse than now and lasted a lot longer. So why are we on the brink of judgement day now? Their usual response is "I've just got a feeling." lol

 

[dmcowen674]

From the No shit sherlock dept

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelo...kaW9uX21vc3RfcG9wdWxhcgRzbGsDZnV0dXJlam9ic3dv

4-2-2011

Future jobs won’t support decent living standard



It's most welcome news that job growth seems to be picking up again--even if we'll need a whole lot more of it to get back to where we were before the Great Recession.


Still there's growing evidence that the new jobs, many of which are in sectors like retail, food services, and health care, simply aren't as good--in terms of wages, hours, and seniority--as the ones they're replacing. And a report released today only adds to the concern.

The study then finds that, according to Labor Department projections, fewer than 13 percent of jobs to be created by 2018 will meet the economic security threshold for a single parent with two kids. Forty-three percent of those jobs will meet the threshold for a two-income household.


In other words, most of the jobs of the future aren't likely to pay enough to offer the kind of stable, middle-class existence that for much of the 20th century was seen as the American birthright.


"The American Dream of working hard to support your family is being re-written by the growth of low-paying industries and rising expenses

 

[soundforbjt]

The ratio of government jobs\1000 people is lower today than in 1960, IIRC.

 

[wuliheron]

You can't judge future jobs based on what is available right now. Companies have learned the hard way to lay off workers fast when the economy takes a dive, push the remaining workers harder, and wait until the last moment to begin hiring again. When the economy shows signs of really picking up again then they'll all rush to find people to fill the better paying jobs. That is, assuming the economy picks up anytime in the next decade or so which is debatable.

 

[spidey07]

The ratio of government jobs\1000 people is lower today than in 1960, IIRC.

And the percentage receiving federal money is breaking records.

See the problem here? Socialism is great until you run out of other peoples money.

 

[werepossum]

The ratio is skewed from both ends - government at all levels has been growing, and wealth producing industries have been shrinking. Another thing - much of our manufacturing today is in screwdriver plants, where we take parts largely imported and assemble them. Depending on relative tax codes and negotiated tax breaks, many times it's advantageous for corporations based in other countries to downplay the value of the components it sells to its US subsidiary, which makes our productivity look great. If for instance my corporation faces a 20% corporate tax rate in my home nation and a 34% in the USA, it's to my advantage to inflate the value of the parts I import, to show the bulk of my profit in my home country. If however I can qualify for tax breaks in the USA that will result in my paying no corporate taxes, then it's to my advantage to underestimate the value of the parts I import, to show the bulk of my profit in the USA and therefore pay no taxes. This latter situation will result in my US operation showing increased productivity, since the same hours of labor now result in a greater increase in value. It is worth repeating though that American workers are among the most productive in the world.

Other factors which show productivity gains include automation/mechanization, loss of unions and the accompanying shift of power to resource owners, and cheaper (often illegal) labor. Obviously, of those three only the first represents an actual undeniable advantage to society, with the other two better representing a transfer of power than actual productivity gains. It's great to be able to do more with less, but the quality of "great" varies considerably.

 

[Jhhnn]

Meh. Republicans love govt spending for a lot of reasons. First off, they largely lend the govt the money to do it, avoiding the risks of capitalist endeavor. US treasuries are traditionally the safest investment in the world. Welfare and govt employment also quell discontent in the population, enough income so that automation and offshoring can proceed as desired. Loaning the govt money to pay welfare and govt workers while automating and offshoring is obviously more profitable than hiring Americans in the private sector, or it wouldn't be that way.

Hiring contractors to do govt work also directs more money to the top of the corporate pile and is often more expensive than govt workers. Private security in Iraq is a great example of that, as are a lot of other things. Privatization isn't necessarily any more effective or cheaper, it just sends more money to the investor class and less to workers. Privatizers are a known good source of campaign money for sympathetic politicians, and also offer profitable turnkey business opportunities to people who help them out. After the fact, of course, to avoid the appearance of impropriety.

It's all part and parcel of creating an enormous high low split in our society, one where much of the middle class is gradually reduced to working class, working class to poor, and the wealthy to super wealthy. Lots of upper middle class people mistakenly think they can end up on the good side of that rift siding with wealth, but they're wrong. They don't have enough water under their keels to keep from running aground when the people at the top drain the lake...

 

[Zebo]

Who cares if we're #1? Means nothing when you import more than you consume and use debt to do it. Debt to to pay people to sit at home who have been marginalized. Debt to pad the importers pockets instead of your fellow Americans. Debt to maintain illusions of consumerism of that we fail to produce. Debt which is unsustainable and is about to hit us in the head like a baseball bat. Govt will either sudden stop when bondholders start barking or we print and money is worthless. Amounts to the same thing destruction of the middle class.

 

[wuliheron]

The original welfare state, ancient Rome, did the same thing. They conscripted the poor and middle class to fight their wars and then confiscated their property while they were away. If a soldier lived long enough to return home he went on the dole. That was one meal a day and access to the public baths and games. This was actually considered a pretty good deal at the time. The games were second to none and you could do some work on the side for extra money.

Eventually Rome ended up with half the population being slaves and another third living on the dole. Hence everybody got nervous whenever a riot or disease broke out and the wealthy few left town for awhile. What kept it going was Rome conquering her neighbors and skimming off the 99% of the wealth that belonged to the 1% of the population. This worked fine until the empire grew so large it divided in half and the older eastern half imploded.

A nation of takers, not makers. They did make some things like roads and reinvested some of the spoils of war into infrastructure and raising the standard of living for the average peasant so they could then tax them. Their technology was just another means to exploit people.

 

[Zebo]

US treasuries are traditionally the safest investment in the world. Welfare and govt employment also quell discontent in the population, enough income so that automation and offshoring can proceed as desired. Loaning the govt money to pay welfare and govt workers while automating and offshoring is obviously more profitable than hiring Americans in the private sector, or it wouldn't be that way.
-------------------

I explained this on the first page...they made money coming and will own your labor as far as eye can see. I wonder if Americans will wake up when 100% of thier tax money goes to pay wealthy bond holders instead of current services? A change of intrest rate to more normal 6% will have half our money going to bond holders right now. Or maybe Like in Ireland right now the European Bankers are demanding Ireland impose 3% tax on all Irish homeowners? You will pay folks.

Debt does you no favors. (there are a couple exceptions)

 

[SparkyJJO]

LOL. Look in your closet and let us know how many of your clothes were made in America.

My jacket is :awe:
I totally didn't expect that, but it is. I don't know of much else that is though :|

 

[Generator]

Indoctrinated drivel...

You fucking teabaggers need to remove your heads from your ass and stand up to your puppet master charlatans. While you serfs fight to your last breath defending your moneyed masters wealth, they tower above you all pissing on you!

Sure America could use more manufacturing, but tearing down government employees isn't the answer. You depraved teabaggers have already vilified teachers. You've teared down that occupation with the level of your local meth house. WHATS NEXT?! Firemen, then the police? After that then you'll probably get after the old. Then comes the solider...

Or did we forget that was a government job to? You teabaggers are a sorry lot. I can't wait to see your faces when your Republican masters leave you depraved fools when you're all used up. Don't fucking cry then. Don't you dare fucking cry!

 

[Zebo]

Indoctrinated drivel...

You fucking teabaggers need to remove your heads from your ass and stand up to your puppet master charlatans. While you serfs fight to your last breath defending your moneyed masters wealth, they tower above you all pissing on you!

Sure America could use more manufacturing, but tearing down government employees isn't the answer. You depraved teabaggers have already vilified teachers. You've teared down that occupation with the level of your local meth house. WHATS NEXT?! Firemen, then the police? After that then you'll probably get after the old. Then comes the solider...

Or did we forget that was a government job to? You teabaggers are a sorry lot. I can't wait to see your faces when your Republican masters leave you depraved fools when you're all used up. Don't fucking cry then. Don't you dare fucking cry!

Hehe... just a little anocdote... one of my dad's best buddies for like 40 years was a plumbing contractor. Pretty wealthy at one time. He even renounced his citizenship to be a "state citizen" ...long story short IRS, divorces, etc has him 70 yrs old living in an apt getting no SS or medicare (due to not being citizen) lives by borrowing from friends like my dad in order to eat. He admitted to me "I screwed up". yes it will happen.

Sooner than most of you think.

 

[nonlnear]

Indoctrinated drivel...

You fucking teabaggers need to remove your heads from your ass and stand up to your puppet master charlatans. While you serfs fight to your last breath defending your moneyed masters wealth, they tower above you all pissing on you!

Sure America could use more manufacturing, but tearing down government employees isn't the answer. You depraved teabaggers have already vilified teachers. You've teared down that occupation with the level of your local meth house. WHATS NEXT?! Firemen, then the police? After that then you'll probably get after the old. Then comes the solider...

Or did we forget that was a government job to? You teabaggers are a sorry lot. I can't wait to see your faces when your Republican masters leave you depraved fools when you're all used up. Don't fucking cry then. Don't you dare fucking cry!

You make a good point: we do have far too many soldiers. Not that there's anything wrong with military folk personally (Some of my best friends are military!), but it's a terrible way to squander our wealth when we could save the expense of policing bullying the world.

 

[Hacp]

You make a good point: we do have far too many soldiers. Not that there's anything wrong with military folk personally (Some of my best friends are military!), but it's a terrible way to squander our wealth when we could save the expense of policing bullying the world.

Actually, soldiers are a great investment. We invade a country, plunder their wealth, breed with their women, then move on to a new country. How else did the Romans get so wealthy?