By now everybody is familiar with the Detroit Debacle, and of course the parties drawing the short straw are the workers being laid off -- "temporarily" for now -- by Ford, Chrysler and GM.
What to do? What to do?
Well, America still dominates one world market: guns.
Now, now, I know this won't exactly be a popular idea with many on DKos. But the facts are there.
Auto workers are skilled tradesmen -- primarily machinists. But one American industry not only dominates the world market, it now has a massive need for skilled machinists -- the small arms industry.
Save the auto-workers? They would need minimal retraining and voila, they're making firearms.
People who are unfamiliar with the firearms industry often refer to the "gun manufacturers lobby" or the "gun lobby" (with images of Big Tobacco in their heads), thinking it's big business having significant influence on public policy. But the industry is basically composed of two types of entities: (1) big companies with high-paid union employees; or (2) small businesses with non-union highly-paid expert tradesmen.
This is a domestic industry that employs lots of American workers. Unlike the Big 3, however, this industry competes quite well against foreign products.
We all know how firearms sales have increased (as much as 40% by some counts) since the election of President Elect Obama. FBI reports NICS checks up by 49% over last year. Why swim upstream? Go with the flow. Buy guns, and then butter. And then ammo. And then accessories. Buy ACOG scopes. Buy Surefireflashlights. Buy Milt Sparks Holsters. All of these are made in the U.S., and all employ well-paid, highly skilled trades.
Many distributors and retailers are reporting that business is so brisk that all products are back-ordered for months.
And it's Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa -- nothing says "I love you" or "Maccabees kick ass" or "who would Jesus cap" like the gift of a hand-built AR-15. I know what I'd like to find under the tree, and no, it isn't the UltraVibe Pleasure 2000.
Although many markets, particularly police sidearms, are dominated by imports (Glock and SIG, primarily), there are still plenty of small-arms made in the U.S. -- Smith and Wesson, Colt, Colt Defense (a separate entity), Winchester, Remington, Mossberg. That's a lot of workers.
Colt's workers are UAW, by the way.
Colt is in Connecticut. UAW workers in Connecticut make about $48 an hour.
The shops that aren't union are small businesses, and their employees are highly skilled machinists who are well paid.
Some are so busy they run twenty-four hour shifts. AND THEY'RE HIRING.
The employment page of Lewis Machine Tool, a major supplier of rifles to US Special Forces, says:
"We are looking for great employees. If you would like to be considered for a position, please download and complete our application below and fax it to 309-787-7193.
Benefits we offer include:
Tuition Aid Program
Vacation
Bonus Program For Perfect Attendance
Holidays
Group Dental
Group Medical
Life Insurance
Short-Term Disability
401K Plan
Profit Sharing
Shift Times
Our shift times are as follows:
1st 7:00 a.m. - 3:15 p.m.
2nd 3:00 p.m. - 11:15 p.m.
3rd 11:00 p.m. - 7:15 p.m.
And think of the multiplier effect -- those workers assemble parts made by other American workers, and the product is typically distributed through still more small business owners. And all of those people buy houses, food, services, entertainment. Gotta be at least as labor-intensive as building cars, or sky-scrapers, or passenger planes. All of those industries rely on union labor, whom we want to support for all the right reasons. Because we believe that the grass-roots of America is skilled labor, and that they should be well paid. With benefits.
Now, having sweated my way through "On the Principles of Political Economy and Taxation," (Ricardo's prose is, uh, not user friendly) I am a huge proponent of comparative advantage, i.e., let domestic business fail if it can't compete with imports, and I should be one of the last people to say what I'm about to say:
Keep those workers working. Buy American.