By Jack Healy, Director, Manufacturing Advancement Center, [email protected]
A recent Boston Herald newspaper article revealed that President Eisenhower
secretly recruited six private citizens to run key areas of government
should the Soviets launched a nuclear attack that eliminated key American
leaders. One of the six members of this secret cabinet was Harold Boschenstein,
President of Owens Corning Fiberglass Corp.; his charge was manufacturing
and production, the core of the early 20th Century manufacturing economy.
Unfortunately, that was a different time from today. Now we are a finance
economy. And the current administration does not yet have a senior level
administrator to speak on behalf of the manufacturing industry.
It’s interesting to note how times have changed. The following
are statistics for employment in manufacturing versus government (non-military):
1955 – 15 million people in manufacturing, 7 million in government
(excluding military)
2004 – 14 million in manufacturing, 22 million in government
(excluding military)
Over the past two years, 2.5 million manufacturing jobs have been lost
in the United States, accounting for 90% of the total number of jobs
lost during that time. Staggering facts, indeed, but they have yet to
lead to recognition from our government nor efforts to make manufacturing
more viable.
Trade Deficits Grow China is now the top contributor to our trade deficit. We buy more
than $5 worth of goods from China for every $1 we sell. Last year, we
ran an $83 billion deficit with China alone. Since Congress granted
China Permanent Normal Trade Relations (PNTR) status and China joined
the WTO, the U.S. trade deficit with China has grown more than 20%,
by more than $14 billion.
The Coalition to Save Manufacturing states, “Trade deals touted
as being market-opening agreements have instead dramatically worsened
our trade balances. These trade policies have caused the trade deficit
to explode and have cost 4.5 million actual and potential U. S. jobs
since 1994. Last year the U.S. imported more than $450 billion than
we exported, a trade deficit of $1.2 billion per day. The Trade Deficit
is 16 times larger than it was 20 years ago and is now five percent
of GDP. Over the past 10 years, it has grown by 600%. Our combined trade
deficit with Canada and Mexico has ballooned to nine times its size
before NAFTA, jumping from $9 billion in 1993 to $83 billion in 2001.
The U.S. Department of Labor says more than 450,000 workers have lost
their jobs because of NAFTA. Using different methodology, the Economic
Policy Institute estimates that the growth in U.S. trade deficits with
our NAFTA partners has resulted in a net loss of more than 750,000 U.S.
jobs.”
So what can you, the manufacturer, do? The MassMEP offers the only
program that touches small manufacturers. Unfortunately, the federal
government has reduced the MEP program’s funding by 68% for fiscal
year 2005. Attempts to restore funding have been vetoed on a regular
basis within the administration. Not only is the administration not
providing funding, it is not recognizing manufacturing as an industry
with a significant impact on the U.S. economy.
Manufacturing is Not Being Heard Here are some interesting facts. About 60 Congressman sit on a federal
coalition designed to save manufacturing vs about 170 Congressman who
sit on the American Indian Caucus. The state has a Commissioner of the
Massachusetts Department of Food and Agriculture; the gross state product
of agriculture is $221 million. Compare that with the gross state product
for manufacturing at over $34 billion, yet there is no comparable position
in the administration for manufacturing.
The logical question is why is there such a disconnect? Part of the
reason is that manufacturing companies do not get involved. They believe
that their voices do not need to be heard or that they cannot make an
impact. Therefore, they are not connected politically and their voices
are not being heard by politicians.
You Must Get Involved I cannot emphasize enough that it is very important for you to get
involved with local politics. It directly effects your business and
anything that effects your business effects your bottom line. Start
by inviting your elected officials to your company events or to your
new product announcements. When you receive a political solicitation,
return it with your comments on why you are not contributing to the
campaign fund.
And make sure you get involved with an organization, such as the Associated
Industries of Massachusetts (AIM), so that your voice can be heard along
with other companies. There is a greater impact in numbers. Associated
Industries of Massachusetts is the voice of more than 7,500 Massachusetts
employers from all industries on legislative and regulatory issues in
Boston and Washington, D.C. AIM works on behalf of employers to improve
the Massachusetts business economy. AIM is also the Employer’s
Resource, providing services to member companies in the areas of human-resource
management, employment law, environmental compliance, employee training
and education, and energy.
This is the time to get involved, start by getting involved with these
organizations for legislative and regulatory support:
