"Words that make actions speak louder."
President Obama faces a tough decision soon that will signal how his administration will tackle the problem of balancing our trade policies. This is the upcoming “Section 421 Tire Case” decision. Summary: American has been importing more and more tires from China while closing tire plants here. The surge in imports violates an agreement known […]
At the recent Netroots Nation gathering in Pittsburgh bloggers toured the J. Edgar Thomson steel mill. I asked the plant manager about competitiveness. She said that labor costs are not a big factor in the cost competitiveness of Chinese steel; a major component of the cost difference is the price of raw materials. (With Chinese […]
“A country’s economic power comes from manufacturing. But while other countries have industrial policies, America has a de-inustrialization policy. We have handed our country’s manufacturing capacity over to other countries, and as a result we have to borrow more and more to be able to buy the things that we used to make. How did […]
A country’s economic power comes from manufacturing. But while other countries have industrial policies, America has a de-industrialization policy. We have handed our country’s manufacturing capacity over to other countries, and as a result we have to borrow more and more to be able to buy the things that we used to make. How did […]
The definition of “anti-American” might be up for grabs after so many years of conservatives using the label like a club, but can we all agree that when other countries are working against the interests of America, that it is fair to call that “anti-American?” I discovered something truly anti-American when I caught a registered […]
Last week Harold Meyerson wrote a great column in the Washington Post, Just One Word: Factories, promoting American manufacturing. Meyerson wrote, “Since 1987, manufacturing as a share of our gross domestic product has declined 30 percent. Once the world’s leading net exporter, we have become the world’s leading net importer. In 2007, we exported $1.2 […]
So I took a tour of a steel plant today. There was a lot of hot, molten steel, but also high-tech computerized systems running the show, making sure just enough steel is poured into a mold at just the right temperature and speed, among many other functions. The tour was sponsored by the Alliance for American Manufacturing and […]
I had the opportunity to tour a steel plant outside of Pittsburgh yesterday. (I am here for the Netroots Nation convention.) The word that keeps coming into my mind is “intense.” I experienced intense heat, intense colors in the molten steel, and intense faces on the workers. We wore protective clothing, boots, earplugs, gloves and […]
President Obama, at the “Three Amigos” summit today in Mexico, responded to Canadian and Mexican complaints about the “Buy American Clause” in the stimulus package, reiterated that the clause is legal within existing trade agreements and does not threaten our trading partners. From an Edmonton Sun report, Obama: ‘Buy American’ won’t hurt Canadian trade While […]
The Chamber of Commerce–that’s the U.S. Chamber of Commerce–proved once again how anti-American it is when it comes to supporting U.S. industry. In Findlay, Ohio, unions had been organizing a parade and all-day event for this Saturday to highlight American-made products and the need for U.S. trade and economic policies that reward job growth in […]