At a town hall meeting this fall, President Obama took an especially pointed question—one that, unfortunately, is on a lot of minds: "Is the American Dream dead?"
The president’s answer was an emphatic "no," and I agree with him. But the fact remains that far too many Americans are worried that their children will inherit a diminished chance at success, that it’s getting harder and harder to make it in America. As the party that’s been working hard to solve an economic crisis—rather than the party offering what it openly calls a return to "the exact same agenda" of the Bush years—it’s Democrats’ job to respond to that worry with real solutions. And I think we have an important answer in our Make It In America agenda: a plan to rebuild American manufacturing and its middle-class jobs. This Tuesday, a vote for Democrats is also a vote for a middle class strengthened by new, better manufacturing jobs.
America built the world’s largest and most prosperous middle class in part because so much of what made the world run was produced in American factories, by American workers who were paid good wages. Manufacturing, and the middle-class economy it creates, is a proud part of the American character that we must not give up.
Unfortunately, manufacturing jobs have, until recently, been in long-term decline. Starting from its peak in 1979, the number of manufacturing employees has been cut nearly in half: from some 20 million to fewer than 12 million today. And the damage greatly accelerated under President Bush: from February 2001 to February 2009, nearly one-third of manufacturing jobs in America disappeared. The loss of those jobs was a substantial contributor to the middle-class stagnation that characterized those years. From 2002 to 2008, the median household income fell by $2,000 — the first time that had ever happened during a period of economic expansion. When we talk about a "lost decade for the middle class," we are talking, in part, about a lost decade for manufacturing employment.
But we’re beginning to turn that trend around: in 2010 we had the longest sustained growth in manufacturing employment in 13 years. The Democrats’ Make It In America agenda is about building on that success: investing in manufacturing innovation, making the American workforce the best-prepared one in the world, and creating an environment in which American manufacturers can create jobs here and still compete in an open global market. It’s an agenda that can be supported by both organized labor and business leaders—because it’s an agenda that means a more competitive economy and more sustainable jobs.
President Obama has already signed five Make It In America bills into law: they include a bill to speed innovation by helping inventors get new products to market faster, a bill to make it cheaper for American companies to obtain the materials they need to manufacture goods, a bill to help veterans train for jobs in the expanding energy sector, and a bill to close tax loopholes that encourage companies to ship jobs overseas. Another Make It In America bill signed into law increases lending to small businesses, provides an additional $12 billion in small business tax cuts, and promotes the export of U.S.-made goods; it is projected to save or create hundreds of thousands of jobs.
A host of other Make It In America bills are still waiting to pass the Senate—and if we want them to keep the momentum they need to pass, Democrats need a strong showing on Tuesday. These bills would support clean energy firms; help rural families upgrade their homes’ energy efficiency with products largely made in America; build job-training partnerships between unions, businesses, and educators; help match job-training degrees and programs to the most needed jobs; and more.
Another House-passed Make It In America bill would hold China accountable for its currency manipulation, which puts Americans out of work. By keeping the value of its currency deliberately low, China can sell products here at an artificially low price, which in turn drives American manufacturers out of business. With Senate action, and the president’s signature, we can push back against what is essentially an unfair foreign subsidy, creating a fairer playing field for businesses and workers.
The jobs that will come out of these bills will mean opportunity for middle-class families — but they will also mean opportunity for our entire economy to innovate and grow. Though some would urge otherwise, we can’t afford to write off manufacturing — because our ability to remain the world’s innovation leader depends directly on our ability to make things here today.
Take the example of Amazon’s Kindle e-reader: as Harvard business professor Wally Shih has observed, the Kindle may have been designed in California — but of the approximately $185 in manufacturing costs that go into every unit, only $40 to $50 of that value, only about a quarter, is added in America. Why should that worry us? Because, as Shih writes, missing out on manufacturing the Kindle’s advanced screen means that "the U.S. will miss out on the future industries that spring from it — things like large flexible displays, future generations of electronic signage, and plastic electronics. Those technologies could, in turn, spawn other innovations and new industries... This same story has played out in high-tech industry after high-tech industry," including everything from computer chips to precision optics to photovoltaic cells to advanced batteries for electric cars.
Innovation follows manufacturing—and unless we take the state of American manufacturing more seriously, innovation will follow it right overseas. If we want America to continue to be the world’s high-tech leader, if we want more income equality and a stronger middle class, we can’t ignore manufacturing.
Faced with that challenge, Republicans like to claim that they’re working to strengthen American industry. But they’re the same party that can use a small business as the photo-op backdrop for their rehashed "Pledge to America"—and then, just hours later, vote almost unanimously against small business lending and tax cuts.
Democrats are offering something better than that: a real plan to restore our manufacturing and innovation strength—and in the process, re-instill Americans’ confidence that they and their children can still Make It In America. After November 2nd, that will be much harder to accomplish—unless you get out, vote, and make a difference in this election.