Jobs: White House Manufacturing Policy Document and Meeting

This week the Obama administration came out with a new policy paper, “Framework for Revitalizing American Manufacturing” to coincide with a White House meeting with manufacturers. At the meeting, Vice President Biden … announced administration support for a $5 billion expansion of a tax-credit program to encourage manufacture of wind, solar and other energy technology. […]

Come On Now! — Claiming Workers Don’t Want Trade Laws Enforced?

Those advocating capitualtion on trade and manufacturing are hard at work. From the National Journal’s Congress Daily today, Trade Restraint? Those who follow U.S.-Chinese trade frictions must be working overtime these days. The number of high-profile trade complaints between the two countries — from anti-dumping investigations and the imposition of tariffs, to legal arbitration — […]

China is Unhappy with Spy Label

The Associated Press reports that China has criticized last week’s U.S.-China Commission (USCC) report for asserting that Chinese spies are aggressively stealing U.S. secrets. Beijing warns that the report is “full of prejudice” and that it could damage U.S.-China relations. This is laughable. Not only are China’s espionage, cyber attacks, intellectual property theft, piracy, and […]

Does China’s Nylon Tariff Help American Manufacturing?

A few weeks ago, in a case involving a tire import surge President Obama enforced our trade agreement with China. The agreement spelled out that a disruptive surge in imports would be remedied by imposing a tariff, which is what the President did. Of course he was accused of “protectionism” be people confused about the […]

Here We Go Again – American Glass Industry Losing Jobs And Factories To Chinese Subsidies

Short-term gains for a few. Long-term harm to the rest of us. Again and again we have seen American industries exported, the plants closed, the jobs lost, and government officials just letting it happen. The workers in the other countries are almost always paid less than workers here, sometimes dramatically less, which means they can’t […]

“Anything Goes” Capitalism Destroys Companies and Workers’ Lives

In the title tune to the 1934 musical Anything Goes,”Cole Porter says “times have changed,” since the stock market crashed in 1929, but the super rich, like John D. Rockefeller Jr., “still can hoard enough money to let Max Gordon produce his shows.” The lyrics also tease FDR because Eleanor advertised a mattress from a […]

How The Climate Change Bill Can Help Save 4 Million Jobs

Taken out of context, this argument sounds almost like a right-wing or corporatist knock against the climate change bill that’s pending in the Senate: The bill that was introduced this week by Sens. John Kerry and Barbara Boxer could put at risk 4 million American jobs unless it’s amended to help American manufacturers. But it’s […]

Steel City: Forgotten But Not Gone

In the lead up to the G-20 Summit in Pittsburgh, mainstream media are telling half a story. Everyone seems to agree that heavy industry is a thing of the past. The London Telegraph opens with the “long-gone steel industry” and Business Week with the “rust-stained U.S. Steel tower.” Thankfully, Pittsburgh’s leaders “didn’t spend a lot […]

Finally, a President with the Guts to Enforce Trade Laws

Barack Obama proved Friday he’s got grit. He enforced trade laws. These are special trade safeguard rules called “Section 421” that the Chinese had agreed to obey to gain entrance to the World Trade Organization (WTO). They are, however, laws that had gone unenforced by the U.S. in the past. President Obama used these safeguard […]