BuyUSAFirst

Irvine, CA – J. Gibson

Wealth is created through two types of producers:
1) Those that produce using  natural resources such as agriculture, lumber, oil and mining
2) Those that produce tangible products (this includes software) – generally called  manufacturing..

Non-wealth creating activities are services that support the producers (retail sales, banking, insurance, restaurants, etc).

To be healthy an economy must have certain level of wealth creating producers. The percentage of wealth producers to non-wealth employment varies according to the country. In the U.S. we are at 10% and it should be closer to 20%.

In the U.S. this minimum level of wealth creating producers is not being maintained. This is the reason
that our economy is faltering and we are borrowing money from other wealth producers in the world.

We must choose certain critical areas of manufacturing to protect and grow. The objective here is not to promote free trade or provide the lowest price to consumers but to maintain a healthy economy by keeping a minimum level of wealth producers employed. If properly done U.S. manufacturers will be competitive and the prices will be the lowest.

Because of the multiplying effect there will be from three to ten support jobs created for each manufacturing employee. This will help create a healthy economy.

There are several options for protecting and growing the selected manufacturing areas. These are:
- Provide incentives to manufacturing companies for increasing employment in the U.S. (i.e. reduced taxes, subsidies)
- Place tariffs on imported manufactured goods
- Encourage U.S. citizens to purchase products Made in the USA even if the price is higher

Some say that the U.S. is producing more than ever before because of  productivity improvements. This may be true – although it is difficult to find any products made in U.S.A. in the stores. The amount of current production is nothing what it could be if we had 20% of the workforce employed in wealth producing occupations. We need to stop thinking of buying products at the lowest price and start thinking about having a healthy economy for our children.

Mike Michaud, a Maine congressional representative, released a report on a survey of Maine’s manufacturing companies. The results of the report confirmed that Maine’s manufacturing employment has declined 40% since 1994. Some of the reasons for the decline, mentioned in the report, included:

Closed Factories – Over 13% of Maine’s factories have closed since 2001.

Foreign Competition – From China and other countries

Lack of Trained Employees – There is a shortage of workers with the right skills

Limited Exports – Foreign competition and lack of the right kind of export help from the federal government

Government Red Tape – Companies did not do business with the federal  government because of excessive costs and problems dealing with regulations

Businesses  indicated, in the survey, that they were concerned with government regulations, taxes, and health care costs.

You can find the complete report here.

Eike Batista, founder and president of EBX group, offers solutions to U.S. economic problems. He understands that it is not always about the lowest price. It is important for an economy to protect itself by requiring that a large percentage of products must be produced in the domestic economy to support jobs for the citizens. China, Germany, Japan, India, Brazil and other countries are doing this, why can not the United States?

Watch the video of Eike Batista presenting his ideas on YouTube at http://youtu.be/SyUamYZd610

We recently learned about Harry Moser founder of the Reshoring Initiative. Harry developed his organization to reverse the flow of manufacturing jobs from the United States to foreign countries. He has been honored with Industry Week’s Hall of Fame listing in 2010 and is touring the country giving presentations about the ‘total cost of ownership’ for products made in China and sold in the USA.

His work educates manufacturers about the realities of manufacturing offshore and the benefits of bringing manufacturing back to the United States. His Total Cost of Ownership approach clearly shows the benefits of manufacturing in the US.

Our hats are off to Harry and his excellent efforts to bring back manufacturing to the United States. His web site is www.reshoringnow.org

The people of the United States need to focus on the wealth generating areas of their economy. Only land and manufacturing generate wealth in an economy. The durable goods sector of the economy is a wealth generation sector that includes manufacturing, construction, and mining and logging. In 2000 there were eleven million jobs in the durable goods producing sector of the U.S. economy. Now there are only 7.2 million jobs in this sector. (See Forecasting Global Economy) This is a loss of over 3.8 million good paying middle class jobs. Those jobs would have had a multiplying effect because they require support industries. The multiplying effect produces 10 support jobs for each durable goods job. Since this did not happen, we lost over 38 million high quality jobs. Sure, we have had some job gains in the retail, government and financial areas but these jobs do not generate wealth or have the same multiplying effect. No wonder our economy is declining – we have lost the heart that pumps wealth into the economy. We need to bring back our manufacturing. We need to impose import tariffs, lower taxes for businesses, eliminate unnecessary regulations, and buy U.S. made goods.

Despite the rosy statements by much of the press, things are not going well. Unemployment has increased to 9% and the consumer price index is up 2.7%. Food and gasoline are toping the price increases but the weak dollar is also putting pressure on import prices which are up also.

It is difficult to understand why Americans still to not pressure their politicians to stand up and support the things that grow the economy. Things like reducing taxes on businesses so they can invest in new production, reducing regulations, encouraging the export of goods made in the U.S.A., placing tariffs on imported goods that are unfairly priced or destructive to U.S. manufacturing, establishment of national goals for manufacturing and helping companies achieve those goals by supporting research and education.

If we keep doing things the same way we are doing them now we are headed for even more trouble in the economy. Albert Einstein said “Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results”.

Have we learned our lessons yet?

50,000 Manufacturing Jobs Have Been Lost Every Month Since 2001!

By Michael Snyder
The Economic Collapse

Any economy that constantly consumes far more wealth than it produces is eventually going to be in for a very hard fall.  Many point to relatively stable GDP numbers as evidence that the U.S. economy is doing okay, but the truth is that we have had to borrow increasingly massive amounts of money to keep GDP numbers up at that level.  The U.S. government is going to run an all-time record deficit of about 1.65 trillion dollars this year and average household debt in the United States has now reached a level of 136% of average household income.
Read more

By:  Zachary S. Krajacic

It has been said that Ireland’s greatest export is its people. America’s greatest export may be its manufacturing jobs.

Long-term economic strength depends on a resurgence of our manufacturing base. Based on figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, over three million manufacturing jobs have been lost over the last ten years. The loss of manufacturing jobs started in the late 1970s, continued in the 1980s, accelerated in the 1990s after the signing of NAFTA, and accelerated again when China was given most favored nation trading status in 2003. This has not only increased unemployment in the U.S., but has transformed the country into a service economy that offers relatively low-paying jobs.
Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2011/02/18/protectionism-is-the-solution-to-americas-jobs-shortage/#ixzz1ELVGVG4O

By: DEREK THOMPSON

The story of the middle class is a story of promise and paralysis. In the 30 years after World War II, the country’s real median income doubled, allowing average Americans to fulfill the American Dream of achieving a better life than their parents and passing it on to their children. That was the promise.

In the last 30 years, however, the American Dream has been in peril. Production jobs went to robots, while administrative jobs went to Bangalore. Manufacturing employment lost half its share of the economy. Union participation plummeted. Real median income rose by only a fifth and actually fell in the last decade. That is the paralysis. See the charts and data at The Atlantic…

By Dustin Ensinger

Despite the extraordinarily slow recovery from the worst recession since the Great Depression, for the first time in over a decade, manufacturing employment actually increased last year by 1.2% or 136,000.

But even with a decade of annual job growth, in the hundreds of thousands, will do little to restore the nation’s decimated industrial base. Since 1997, the manufacturing sector has shed roughly six million jobs, due to the nation’s failed trade policies.

Read the full story at http://www.economyincrisis.org/content/manufacturing-jobs-increase-2010