Under Bush and the Republicans, Manufacturing declined every single year

[rdean]

Since 2001, the U.S. has lost 42,400 factories --
and its technical edge.

Something has gone radically wrong with the American economy. A once-robust system of "traditional engineering" -- the invention, design, and manufacture of products -- has been replaced by financial engineering. Without a vibrant manufacturing sector, Wall Street created money it did not have and Americans spent money they did not have.

Since 2001, the country has lost 42,400 factories, including 36 percent of factories that employ more than 1,000 workers (which declined from 1,479 to 947), and 38 percent of factories that employ between 500 and 999 employees (from 3,198 to 1,972).

Yet, total manufacturing gross domestic product in 2008 (at $1.64 trillion) represented 11.5 percent of U.S. economic output, down from 17 percent in 1999 (about the time Republicans took over congress).

Today, America's biggest export via ocean container is waste paper -- our version of dung.

The Plight of American Manufacturing

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A decade of Republican mess and man, are they pissed he hasn't fixed it yet. Even with them blocking him every step of the way.

 

[SteadyMercury]

Oh yeah this is all Bush fault, under his watch manufacturing employment started dropping.

 

[rdean]

Oh yeah this is all Bush fault, under his watch manufacturing employment started dropping.

You try to blame the Bush/Republican disasters on Obama. The truth is, Bush and the Republicans worked tirelessly helping business move to China. You can't name anything they did to try to stop it.

And while employment may have gone down, factories became more productive. So why did more than 40,000 close since 2001?

 

[AmazonTania]

The decline in manufacturing is a global phenomenon.