BuyUSAFirst

#1 The United States has lost approximately 42,400 factories since 2001.

#2 Dell Inc., one of America’s largest manufacturers of computers, has announced plans to dramatically expand its operations in China with an investment of over $100 billion over the next decade.

Read the full article at www.theeconomiccollapseblog.com

By: Pallavi Gogoi,  AP Business Writer 

One key to unemployment puzzle: US companies send jobs overseas, where sales are surging.

Corporate profits are up. Stock prices are up. So why isn’t anyone hiring? Actually, many American companies are — just maybe not in your town. They’re hiring overseas, where sales are surging and the pipeline of orders is fat. See the full article here.

In a report released on Dec. 15 by the Federal Reserve, manufacturing production increased 0.3% in November but don’t get excited yet. The factory operating rate moved up to 72.8%, its highest level in more than two years but still well below its long-run (1972 to 2009) average of 79.2%.

The factory operating rate of other countries is Japan 83-86% (Bank of Japan), European Union 82% (Bank of Spain estimate), Australia 81% (National Bank estimate), India 70% (Hindu business line), and China perhaps 60% (various sources).

So what does this mean – simply our utilization of existing capacity has increased. It does not look at actual industrial capacity. The U.S. capacity for production has remained flat or declined in many areas while the capacity of other countries has increased. See http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/g17/current/g17.pdf.

US industrial capacity declined 1 percent in 2009, the largest single year decline on record.
See http://thewolfatthedoor.blogspot.com/2010_02_01_archive.html This is distinct and apart from the rate of utilization of existing capacity. This is a dismantling, decomposition of capacity.

We are looking for better information on the history of U.S. industrial capacity. If you know of sources please let us know.

The Empire State Manufacturing Survey indicates that conditions deteriorated in November for New York State manufacturers. For the first time since mid-2009, the general business conditions index fell below zero, declining 27 points to -11.1. See full story at the NY Fed

The United States has a competitive index of 5.6 compared to China’s 10.0, India’s 8.15, Republic of Korea’s 6.79 based on the Global Manufacturing Competitiveness Index (GMCI). The United States is expected to slip to 5.38 in 5 years with Brazil claiming the 4^th rank at 6.32.

U.S. citizens should recognize that this index is important to their future. As other countries become more competitive in manufacturing the U.S. will lose investment capital, good paying jobs and the standard of living of the United States will decline. We need to support those that are trying to warn about the economic war that is now being waged against the United States.

For further information about the GMCI and about the importantce of manufacturing to the U.S. standard of living read the 2010 Global Manufacturing Index report by Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu.

Critical Metal Processing Technology Loss is Example of Free Market Failure

By Andrew Leonard  from Salon.com

US companies abandoned field when prices crashed in 1980-90.
“Rare earth elements are critical to advanced military technologies, computer and cellphone hardware, hybrid car batteries and wind turbine magnets. In other words, if you were going to target an industry crucial to dominating key technologies of the 21st century, rare earth element processing would be near the top of the list.”
Full Story

-By Paul McDougall, Information Week (August 9, 2010)
Email Paul at pmcdougall@techweb.com

The U.S. Agency for International Development will contribute from $10 million to $36 million to train workers, including 3,000 IT specialists, in Sri Lanka.

The federal agency will partner with private outsources in that country to train the workers. This program is drawing fire from critics.

Bloomberg reports the trade deficit widened in June by a record $7.9 billion as imports rose and shipments abroad declined. It is easy to say that this is nothing new but when you put it into practical terms like “the U.S. is buying more than it is selling” it becomes obvious we have to give up something to keep supporting our habit of buying cheap overseas products and oil to run our cars. So what are we giving up? Some would say we can just keep borrowing and sometime in the future when things are better we can just pay it back. Well I think we have already done this and things are not getting better.

Others have said that someday the foreign producers will have to raise their prices because their citizens will become more like us and want big cars and big houses. When they raise their prices the U.S. will be more competitive and people will start buying products made in the U.S. and we will be able to export more. Sorry to put this idea to rest. It is not happening fast enough. The U.S. will be bankrupt first and we will not have the capital to retool and be competitive. We are losing our capital and our manufacturing skill set along with our factories. The young people coming up today are not being trained in machine shops in the high schools of the past. Wood working shops are gone too. Our children are getting trained on how to work in a retail sales job making one fourth of the salary of a manufacturing worker in the ’80s.

So every time you see the trade deficit getting larger you can start thinking about what the U.S. is giving up. We suggest you start asking the stores you shop in if they have products made in the U.S.A.  If they do not have them then search the Internet and find a product Made in U.S.A. If you still cannot find a U.S.A. made product then contact us and we will help you find a product Made in the U.S.A. Do your part to cut the trade deficit and keep the money in the hands of your fellow citizens. Quit destroying your local and regional economy by buying products made outside the U.S.A.

By Doug Palmer  Reuters

WASHINGTON, July 28 (Reuters) – U.S. lawmakers moved closer on Wednesday to creating a commission to find ways to cut the huge trade deficit with China and other countries, while also pushing a strategy to promote U.S. manufacturing.

The House of Representatives passed the bill on the commission as part of a “Make it in America” agenda promoted by Democrats before November’s congressional elections to address voters’ concerns about persistently high U.S. unemployment.

“Make it in America is not just a slogan. It is an objective to make that a reality,” House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer told reporters after the vote.

* House lawmakers also call for national manufacturing strategy Read full story at Reuters

Denver Business Journal – by Mark Harden

The Denver metro area has lost 27,300 manufacturing jobs over the last decade, shedding nearly a third of its manufacturing employment, according to an analysis of new federal employment data.

Between May 2000 and May 2010, the Denver-Aurora-Broomfield area’s manufacturing payrolls fell from 86,500 to 59,000, a 31.56 percent decline, the analysis concludes. Read full story..