So what would it actually take to bring back more manufacturing? (With the idea that manufacturing equals jobs.) Scott Paul, executive director of the Alliance for American Manufacturing, talked about that at a meeting of the Inquirer editorial board yesterday. Paul said one of the biggest issues is how China prices its currency in conjunction with the U.S. dollar. The current pricing structure gives China a 20 to 40 percent advantage when it comes to selling goods, he said. Obviously, it is difficult for Americans, including American companies, to buy American products when Chinese goods are less expensive, especially because of currency imbalances, he said.
In the 1980s, Paul said, there was a similar problem with the yen and with some European currencies. President Reagan negotiated a change and the U.S. trade balance shifted more in America's favor. Other disparities, including the cost of labor and fewer regulations, are less of a problem than the currency imbalance, he said. Creating the market for American manufactured goods would be a first step to encouraging investment in manufacturing.
The Alliance is a joint management and labor policy and lobbying group dedicated to promoting a pro-manufacturing environment. (Yes, they do work together, as shocking as that may seem!)
By the way, did any of you go to the Alliance's event at Lincoln Financial Field last night? I was unable to attend, but I'd be curious to hear some reports.
Every day for 60 days, Inquirer staff writer Jane M. Von Bergen profiled someone from the ranks of the region’s unemployed.
-
Cold winter for the jobless
- Ranks of long-term jobless are growing.
-
How a printing plant failed
- Big gambles and bad decisions, oil prices and credit crises, even a New Zealand tycoon: All played a role in Downingtown.
- Jobless60
- February
- January
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- News | Sports | Business | What's Happening | Restaurants & Food | Entertainment | Living | Marketplace | Jobs
