It took less than a year for America’s factory output to rebound from the 1991 recession. It took 3½ years to bounce back from the 2001 recession. Now, six years clear of the Great Recession, manufacturing output still hasn’t returned to the pre-crisis levels it reached in 2007, according to revised economic data from the Federal Reserve. Read more
Tag Archive for: Economy
Twenty-five years ago, Ni Meijuan earned $19 a month working the spinning machines at a vast textile factory in the Chinese city of Hangzhou. Read more
Ford Motor Co. announced, Wednesday, Aug. 12, that Ford F-650/F-750 medium-duty trucks will for the first time roll off the line in the United States, at the company’s Ohio Assembly Plant in Avon Lake. Read more
Democrats and Republicans disagree on a lot, but leaders of both parties are as keen now as they were decades ago to embrace manufacturing jobs. Read more
WHY MANUFACTURING SHOULD RETURN TO AMERICA
Ford said it will move production of the Focus and C-Max small cars from its Michigan Assembly Plant in 2018, with union officials saying they were told the work will leave the U.S.. Read more
Last fall, Wal-Mart promised to purchase $250 billion in Made in USA products by 2023, a move it said would create 1 million U.S. jobs over time. Two-thirds of the goods in its domestic stores are already made, sourced, assembled, or grown in the United States, the company added. Read more
WASHINGTON — The Senate on Tuesday handed President Barack Obama the biggest legislative victory of his second term, with a dramatic vote clearing the way for major trade agreements with Pacific Rim nations and the European Union. Read more
The U.S. economy is facing a predicament the Federal Reserve didn’t anticipate — a stronger than expected U.S. dollar. Investors are encouraged to Buy American. Read more
There are roughly 5.1 million fewer American manufacturing jobs now than at the start of 2001. And China is to blame for more than one-third of American jobs lost, says a new report. Read more
Daniel Acker | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Jack Brown Produce workers sort apples on a packing line in Sparta, Mich. The state, a big exporter of agricultural goods, is among U.S. regions raising its export profile.
It’s well-known American jobs have been lost to overseas competition. While work on U.S. manufacturing floors has declined, overseas markets have developed a growing appetite for American-made goods—from chemicals and wood products, to medical devices.
Documentary: Made by China in America? directed by Miao Wang about Chinese firms bringing manufacturing to the U.S. It is part of Morgan Spurlock’s “We the Economy” series (www.wetheeconomy.com).
When I was a baby, my mom waited in line at 3am with her ration ticket to pick up the monthly allowance of meat. As fortunate dwellers of China’s capital city, we received a little more than two pounds. In remote provinces, it was half or a quarter of that amount.
WeatherTech
Why the US Will Power the World Economy in 2015 – The United States is back, and ready to drive global growth in 2015. [p][/p]
Yet strength of ISM index might be overstated, some say
U.S. manufacturers are still expanding at a rapid pace, unlike most foreign rivals.
Manufacturers in the U.S. barely slowed down in November even as major competitors around the world continued to scale back production. Read more
New data from the World Bank suggests China could surpass the U.S. as the world’s biggest economy as early as this year, a day that was always meant to arrive after China began its quest for wealth in the 1980s, but it will just veil the reality of its economic weaknesses
China’s economy is catching up to the U.S.’s much more quickly than anticipated. That’s according to a new report from the International Comparison Program of the World Bank.The study recalibrates GDP statistics based on updated estimates of “purchasing-power parity” — a measure of what money can actually buy in different economies. In the process, the economy of China comes out far larger than we had previously thought. Its GDP surges to $13.5 trillion in 2011 (the latest year available), compared with the $7.3 trillion calculated using exchange rates. That catapults China’s economy much closer to that of the U.S. — at $15.5 trillion. Forecasting ahead, these figures show that China could overtake America as the world’s largest economy as early as this year.
This day, of course, was always going to arrive. The ascent of China to the world’s No. 1 slot has been inevitable ever since the country embarked on its great quest for wealth in the 1980s. With a population heading toward 1.4 billion, the question has been when, not if, China will topple the U.S. from its lofty perch. Still, we can’t ignore the historic significance of that switch. The U.S. has been the globe’s unrivaled economic powerhouse for more than a century. The fact that China will replace the U.S. at the top is yet another signal of how economic and political clout is rapidly shifting to the East from the West.
That quickly gets everyone’s passions boiling over. To many Chinese, becoming No. 1 is vindication for what they feel has been two centuries of humiliation at the hands of an aggressive West and proof that its authoritarian, state-capitalist economic model is superior to the democratic, free-enterprise systems of the U.S. and Europe. In the U.S., losing the top spot is seen as a symbol of America’s decline on the world stage.
Yet we shouldn’t get ourselves too worked up. These new figures don’t mean as much as many people think. Leaving aside the obvious statistical questions the report raises about the value of GDP figures generally, where the U.S. and China rank misses the more important point: bigger isn’t necessarily better.
A worker walks past a steel factory in Beijing on April 1, 2013
Even if China does become No. 1, that would just be a mask covering up the reality of the economy’s weaknesses. Some of the factors that have been driving GDP upward are also signs of China’s deteriorating economic health — investment in excess capacity, the construction of wasteful real estate projects and the buildup of crazy levels of debt. China is losing its cost competitiveness but still lags badly in the managerial expertise, technology and financial professionalism necessary to develop a truly advanced economy.Beijing’s leadership is embarking on an ambitious program of reform to make the state-led economy more market-oriented and give private business greater sway. But the challenges of implementing these reforms are huge and could cause a dramatic economic slowdown, or even worse. Many economists and analysts (myself included) have openly wondered if China is heading toward a full-blown financial crisis.
On the flip side, if the U.S. slips from its No. 1 position, it doesn’t spell doom. The U.S. still has a substantial lead in innovation, and its dominant position in many industries and sectors is not about to vanish. New York City will remain the world’s premier financial center, and the dollar will reign supreme on the world stage for some time to come. Still, wherever the U.S. ranks, its economy too is badly in need of reform. Better infrastructure, a smarter tax code, an improved education system and more determined efforts to close the income gap would also strengthen the economy’s foundation for growth.
SOURCE: Time
Last week, Walmart expanded on the $50 billion Buy American pledge it made last January with a full-fledged Made-in-America summit.
Walmart announced bold commitments to increase domestic sourcing of the products it sells and help veterans find jobs when they come off active duty. Speaking at the National Retail Federation’s annual BIG Show, Walmart U.S. President and CEO Bill Simon also announced the company is helping part-time associates who want to be full time, make that transition. Read more
Probably more than you think. As more manufacturing returns to U.S. shores, early signs show that a “Made in America” label is a serious competitive advantage.
For over a decade, deciding where to build a manufacturing plant to supply the world was simple for many companies. China was the clear choice with its seemingly limitless supply of low-cost labor, an enormous, rapidly developing domestic market, an artificially low currency, and significant government incentives to attract foreign investment. Read more
Maybe the once-ubiquitous label, Made in USA should be updated to: Made in USA — Again. Read more
