Obama names Treasury official to spur manufacturing

2 hrs 19 mins ago

WASHINGTON (Reuters)

Obama names Treasury official to spur manufacturing - Yahoo! News

President Barack Obama plans to announce on Monday that he has named a top Treasury Department official, Ron Bloom, to lead an effort aimed at revitalizing America's hard-hit manufacturing industry.

The U.S. manufacturing industry has lost hundreds of thousands of jobs in recent years to overseas competition as some U.S. businesses have relocated abroad to take advantage of cheaper labor. Bringing an invigorated manufacturing base back to America was a campaign pledge of Obama last year.

Bloom will retain his role as a senior advisor to Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner assigned to Obama's task force on the U.S. automotive industry.

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For some background on Bloom, here is a WSJ article on him from when he was named the the automotive task force: Who Is Ron Bloom? - Real Time Economics - WSJ.

I am not sure what to make of this, though for some reason I find it interesting. On the one hand, manufacturing in this country is in trouble that goes beyond the recession, but on the other, just how much can the government do?

I smell another multi-billion dollar bailout. Which union(s) going to get the cas this time?

I don't see why we need to spur manufacturing. Yes, the jobs are going overseas, where the work can be performed more cheaply. That's called progress...I don't see why it's a tragedy. The United States has huge competitive advantages in other areas, and will more than make up for this loss by creating jobs in other areas (the current recession notwithstanding).

Kandahar said:

I don't see why we need to spur manufacturing. Yes, the jobs are going overseas, where the work can be performed more cheaply. That's called progress...I don't see why it's a tragedy. The United States has huge competitive advantages in other areas, and will more than make up for this loss by creating jobs in other areas (the current recession notwithstanding).

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Here in Michigan, we are pushing "green jobs" and trying to bring in movie jobs(with some success even). The traditional manufacturing jobs are not going to be there like they used to, so we do have to make changes. Like I said, I am really torn on this. I see the need to promote manufacturing, but worry that we will slow our needed changes to other areas of employment, and I am not sure how well we can promote manufacturing from a federal level without doing more damage than good.

Redress said:

Here in Michigan, we are pushing "green jobs" and trying to bring in movie jobs(with some success even). The traditional manufacturing jobs are not going to be there like they used to, so we do have to make changes. Like I said, I am really torn on this. I see the need to promote manufacturing, but worry that we will slow our needed changes to other areas of employment, and I am not sure how well we can promote manufacturing from a federal level without doing more damage than good.

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And, just like everything else, when the guy who cleans the toilet is paid 40 bucks an hour, has a $30,000 a year insurance plan and get's better retirement than a member of Congress, those jobs will leave, too.

Wait. Say what?

Non-automated manufacturing jobs are going overseas, but that does not equate to American manufacturing going the way of the dinosaurs.

http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/statistics/historical/gands.pdf

The increasing value of US exported goods suggests to me that American Manufacturing is far from being in the grave.

We don't need to spur manufacturing. We need to spur new industries.

We need to spur the economy and the rest will work itself out.

A little tax relief, would do about ten thousand times more good for the Manufacturing Sector than yet another Czar.

According to the WSH article he "is a special assistant to the president of United Steelworkers union. Translation: "union hack." OK I have enough information.

obvious Child said:

Wait. Say what?

Non-automated manufacturing jobs are going overseas, but that does not equate to American manufacturing going the way of the dinosaurs.

http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/statistics/historical/gands.pdf

The increasing value of US exported goods suggests to me that American Manufacturing is far from being in the grave.

We don't need to spur manufacturing. We need to spur new industries.

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Something to note: The nature of creating a current account deficit (more imports than exports) exemplifies the true wealth of the United States (in productive capacity). It is Canada and Mexico who are our largest trading partners, although China is becoming more significant. When we trade our dollars (deficit) for goods, other nations are forced to purchase dollar denominated assets, which also happens to fuel foreign direct investment within the United States. This is very important, as we are not a high growth nation anymore (percentage), and it is only rational to expect the majority of FDI to flow into those nations that are experiencing the highest yearly percentage growth. China does have the highest account surplus of all our trading partners.

And yet, there is another industry in which the United States is the global leader in terms of both exports and imports: services. In 2005, the United States accounted for 14% of the global exports in service, and 12.7% importing services. The economies of the future are not manufacture laden, but more service oriented.

Source: World Trade Organization, International Trade Statistics 2006 (Geneva:WTO, 2006)

Redress said:

Here in Michigan, we are pushing "green jobs" and trying to bring in movie jobs(with some success even). The traditional manufacturing jobs are not going to be there like they used to, so we do have to make changes. Like I said, I am really torn on this. I see the need to promote manufacturing, but worry that we will slow our needed changes to other areas of employment, and I am not sure how well we can promote manufacturing from a federal level without doing more damage than good.

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Repealing NAFTA would go a long way to spurring manufacturing.

How about we come up with a tax system that does not penalize production, and only taxes consumption? You know like a fair tax. Maybe the answer isn't more government trying to help, while supporting governments unmanageable size by a $5k tax on every automobile made in the U.S.

Redress said:

2 hrs 19 mins ago

WASHINGTON (Reuters)

Obama names Treasury official to spur manufacturing - Yahoo! News

For some background on Bloom, here is a WSJ article on him from when he was named the the automotive task force: Who Is Ron Bloom? - Real Time Economics - WSJ.

I am not sure what to make of this, though for some reason I find it interesting. On the one hand, manufacturing in this country is in trouble that goes beyond the recession, but on the other, just how much can the government do?

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Silly Redress, it is not about Librul Government accomplishing anything; that is not what Libruls are all about. It's about pretending to care and making it appear that you are trying.

Since when have Libruls ever expected you to judge them by their accomplishments? It is merely how you FEEL and that you CARED.

:rofl

Don't Tase Me Bro said:

Repealing NAFTA would go a long way to spurring manufacturing.

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Oh yes by all means; nothing like a trade war to spur development on eh?

While we are at it, why not slap huge tarrifs on imported goods; that will help also!

:rofl