Ponder this from The American Prospect.
America's economic elite has long argued that the country does not need an industrial base. The economies in states such as California and Michigan that have lost their industrial base, however, belie that claim. Without an industrial base, an increase in consumer spending, which pulled the country out of past recessions, will not put Americans back to work. Without an industrial base, the nation's trade deficit will continue to grow. Without an industrial base, there will be no economic ladder for a generation of immigrants, stranded in low-paying service-sector jobs. Without an industrial base, the United States will be increasingly dependent on foreign manufacturers even for its key military technology.
And then ponder why there is a distrust in our government doing what is best for the American public.
We all love to talk about a "Green" economy or our economic recovery, jobless or not, yet fail to face the actual issue that the technology to drive improvement is not in our hands. The decision was made by Democrats in the 1980s and with collusion by republicans to sink American manufacturing and create distortions that bias rewards towards wealth and away from labor. How is that working for us? We see the impact, unless you are in the financial sector, which is too big to fail even as it means that we are being stuck with the bill. It is a good recipe for us becoming a vassal state, or resource colony, for nations who actually have an industrial policy and commitment to manufacturing.
Just as we have lost the foundations of manufacturing in our loss of machine tool production [just look at how old-line machine tool manufacturers are reduced to producing injection molding equipment], we are even losing foundations for the energy control of the future when we cannot even retain circuit board manufacturing or integrated circuit fabrication.
And, we say we need to innovate?
The rapid relocation of the world's manufacturing belt from the U.S. to China has also meant a shift in these nations' technological capacities. As foreign manufacturers flock to China to take advantage of its cheap labor, devalued currency, and manufacturing
With the devaluing of labor and manufacturing where is the innovation going to come from? Not from a society that thinks innovation is the Wall-Street casino.
And, so, even in this dire recession we are not seeing effective swift regulation of financial gambling, and we are certainly not seeing a focus on industrial policy or regulated trade, and we are certainly not seeing, in a byzantine HCR bill actual reform that would, if done correctly, be breathtaking in its simplicity and impact. No wonder there is great distrust in our government that appears to lack any sense of responding to the quality of life it has created for the majority of its citizens.
Yet, we continue to think that our security is impacted by Iraq or Afghanistan when there is an actual war against American labor and manufacturing. As stated at the end of the article:
There is little time to waste. "We need a modern-day Paul Revere," says Brian O'Shaughnessy, chair of Revere Copper Products, the oldest industrial company in the United States. "We all need to wake up and understand the forces of foreign economic mercantilism that are waging an economic war against us."
I hope that Democrats will wake up soon, because the republicans have no interest in improving life for the American people.