What really happened to manufacturing?

[Brutus]

Brutus: liberals happened!! They are anti-business. But, America still manufactures 20% of all manufactured goods and its holding steady too. That's 45% more than China.

We could make unions illegal, give tax credits to manufacturers, and pass a Republican Balanced Budget Amendment so China and Japan would have to buy our goods rather than our bonds. Problem solved but liberals hate business so we flounder.

 

[Oddball]

Nonsense.

Automation happened.

America has never manufactured more with fewer people on the assembly line.

 

[Big Black Dog]

Computers are great for a lot of things but, unfortunately, they put a lot of people out of a job.

 

[kyzr]

Nonsense.

Automation happened.

America has never manufactured more with fewer people on the assembly line.

Actually its not automation, it was "The American Jobs Creation Act", US manufacturing went from 28% of the US economy to about 12%. Look at the charts on this 2007 site
IndustryWeek : The Face Of American Manufacturing

What happened was that ~14,000 US factories were moved overseas.

 

[rdean]

Brutus: liberals happened!! They are anti-business. But, America still manufactures 20% of all manufactured goods and its holding steady too. That's 45% more than China.

We could make unions illegal, give tax credits to manufacturers, and pass a Republican Balanced Budget Amendment so China and Japan would have to buy our goods rather than our bonds. Problem solved but liberals hate business so we flounder.

From 2001 to 2008, Republicans working with the Chamber of Commerce and China moved 2.4 million jobs to China and closed thousands of factories.

China and the Chamber of Commerce gave seminars all across the US teaching business how to move to China. Invitations were available on the internet for anyone to print out and show up.

It's not a secret. Anyone can look it up. Just do a Google search, "2001 to 2008 millions of jobs moved to China". You can read about it in publications such as "Manufacturing Today", hardly a "liberal" publication.

I wonder what the right thinks when confronted with real facts? Must hurt.

 

[Oddball]

Nonsense.

Automation happened.

America has never manufactured more with fewer people on the assembly line.

Actually its not automation, it was "The American Jobs Creation Act", US manufacturing went from 28% of the US economy to about 12%. Look at the charts on this 2007 site
IndustryWeek : The Face Of American Manufacturing

What happened was that ~14,000 US factories were moved overseas.

So what?

Agriculture went from >50% to under 5% in a few scant decades because of automation.

Though, not to downplay the role of excessive meddling by politicians and bureaucrats, automation is the principal reason that Americans produce more with less manpower.

 

[skeptic]

Brutus: liberals happened!! They are anti-business. But, America still manufactures 20% of all manufactured goods and its holding steady too. That's 45% more than China.

We could make unions illegal, give tax credits to manufacturers, and pass a Republican Balanced Budget Amendment so China and Japan would have to buy our goods rather than our bonds. Problem solved but liberals hate business so we flounder.

America manufactures 20% of the world's manufactured goods measured in $. Like we manufacture 20 cents of every dollar's worth of man. production on the globe.

But China already manufactures a larger volume of man. goods than we do because they export them at much lower prices than we sell the same goods for.

 

[skeptic]

Nonsense.

Automation happened.

America has never manufactured more with fewer people on the assembly line.

Actually its not automation, it was "The American Jobs Creation Act", US manufacturing went from 28% of the US economy to about 12%. Look at the charts on this 2007 site
IndustryWeek : The Face Of American Manufacturing

What happened was that ~14,000 US factories were moved overseas.

It was both. Marx predicted that as technology advanced and capital accumulated productivity gains would increasingly be the result of automation and that product prices would be eternally driven down causing cyclical boom and bust cycles.

He was 100% right in every facet of that prediction. Every time you hear a news story boasting the productivity of American workers that is another example of automation stealing jobs.

 

[skeptic]

Brutus: liberals happened!! They are anti-business. But, America still manufactures 20% of all manufactured goods and its holding steady too. That's 45% more than China.

We could make unions illegal, give tax credits to manufacturers, and pass a Republican Balanced Budget Amendment so China and Japan would have to buy our goods rather than our bonds. Problem solved but liberals hate business so we flounder.

From 2001 to 2008, Republicans working with the Chamber of Commerce and China moved 2.4 million jobs to China and closed thousands of factories.

China and the Chamber of Commerce gave seminars all across the US teaching business how to move to China. Invitations were available on the internet for anyone to print out and show up.

It's not a secret. Anyone can look it up. Just do a Google search, "2001 to 2008 millions of jobs moved to China". You can read about it in publications such as "Manufacturing Today", hardly a "liberal" publication.

I wonder what the right thinks when confronted with real facts? Must hurt.

Automation has already cost the Chinese millions of manufacturing jobs, they have worse unemployment than we do, and automation is the principal culprit.

 

[Oddball]

He was 100% right in every facet of that prediction. Every time you hear a news story boasting the productivity of American workers that is another example of automation stealing jobs.

Automation doesn't "steal jobs"...It still takes people to build and maintain the machines.

 

[skeptic]

He was 100% right in every facet of that prediction. Every time you hear a news story boasting the productivity of American workers that is another example of automation stealing jobs.

Automation doesn't "steal jobs"...It still takes people to build and maintain the machines.

But it takes far fewer of them to build, maintain and operate those machines than to do the same worl without them.

So what?

Agriculture went from >50% to under 5% in a few scant decades because of automation.

case in point.

 

[william the wie]

The facts are that jobs are also being lost in the service sector. This is not as obvious because it pays better to eliminate jobs at the top end of the wage scale than at the bottom end. I know JDs, MBAs, Master mechanics and at least one Ph.D. working at minimum wage jobs. Non-substance abusers as well. That is going to become more and more common. It tends to be worse in welfare states such as most of the EU but it is bad everywhere.

 

[Toronado3800]

Automation furthers the standard of living as long as ppl are smart enough to figure out how to do another modern job.

Still an odd angry rant at liberals by the OP. Are you talking about the Marshall Plan?

 

[rdean]

I have a friend who moved to California and started a business updating existing machinery. The metal doesn't really age much, but the "controls", PLCs, solenoids, proximity switches, sensors and so on are updated. For instance, he can take a cycle time of say, 20 a minute and upgrade it to 60 cycles a minute.

I designed his companies booth for a trade show and flew there (the show was across the street from Disneyland) to help run the booth. The show was huge and we were right across the isle from the "Laker's Cheerleaders" who had been hired to "man" a booth. That's another story, seeing them using what looked like "disinfectant" spray after these guys put their arms around them to have pictures taken. They were very pretty, but it looked creepy seeing guys my age drooling over girls young enough to be their granddaughters. I just couldn't be one of them.

Anyway, his was the only company at the show that updated currently existing equipment. The show was Robotics, Medical Devices and Automation. All the other automation there was brand new. We had people standing in line to discuss updating existing equipment. He has already moved twice to a larger area to assemble control cabinets and store stock. He has doubled his "work force" from 3 to 6 and then to 12.

It is possible to start a new business if you can identify a "niche" and are qualified. I do have to point out he has a masters in electrical and electronic engineering.

He is also looking into negotiating contracts with these customers to service the equipment. He is struggling, not because he can't find work, but because he is being overwhelmed.

The bottom line is the work is out there if you are creative and have the education. Both his son and daughter are attending private schools that specialize in "engineering". What a surprise.

 

[Cuyo]

This is precisely why I'm in the pet industry. Can't be outsourced, can't be automated.

Unfortunately, it's an industry I fear mankind will soon lose interest in. <shrug>

 

[rdean]

This is precisely why I'm in the pet industry. Can't be outsourced, can't be automated.

Unfortunately, it's an industry I fear mankind will soon lose interest in. <shrug>

The way things are going, many of those pets will end up being "invited" for dinner.

 

[konkon]

Brutus: liberals happened!! They are anti-business. But, America still manufactures 20% of all manufactured goods and its holding steady too. That's 45% more than China.

We could make unions illegal, give tax credits to manufacturers, and pass a Republican Balanced Budget Amendment so China and Japan would have to buy our goods rather than our bonds. Problem solved but liberals hate business so we flounder.

People in countries around the world, except for one, are asking the same question; where did the manufacturing jobs go?

 

[Brutus]

Brutus: liberals happened!! They are anti-business. But, America still manufactures 20% of all manufactured goods and its holding steady too. That's 45% more than China.

We could make unions illegal, give tax credits to manufacturers, and pass a Republican Balanced Budget Amendment so China and Japan would have to buy our goods rather than our bonds. Problem solved but liberals hate business so we flounder.

People in countries around the world, except for one, are asking the same question; where did the manufacturing jobs go?

Brutus: THey went to places like China and Japan so what is your point if you know??

 

[johnrocks]

The inflation-adjusted value of America's manufacturing output in 2009 was 120 percent higher than it was in 1970 according to Dr. Mark J. Perry who is a professor of economics and finance in the School of Management at the Flint campus of the University of Michigan.
CARPE DIEM: We Should Take More Pride in Our Manufacturing Dominance; We Still Make LOTS of Stuff Here

 

[Brutus]

The inflation-adjusted value of America's manufacturing output in 2009 was 120 percent higher than it was in 1970 according to Dr. Mark J. Perry who is a professor of economics and finance in the School of Management at the Flint campus of the University of Michigan.
CARPE DIEM: We Should Take More Pride in Our Manufacturing Dominance; We Still Make LOTS of Stuff Here

Brutus: yes we still make 45% more than China!! But, I'd still love to see tax credits and other incentives for American manufacturers to help even more.