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President Obama was in Wisconsin yesterday
celebrating the onshoring, or repatriation, of 100 manufacturing jobs that
returned to Milwaukee-based Master Lock. That’s nice. But it hardly
matters. The Master Lock move is a slight counter-cyclical uptick against an
inexorable current of offshore momentum.
The larger question at issue is a two-part question
really: does manufacturing really matter and if so what should we do
about it? Manufacturing today employs for about 12 percent of the
nation’s workforce; down from 30 percent in the 1970s. Total
manufacturing job losses According to The American
Prospect , “In October 2009, more people were officially unemployed
(15.7 million) than were working in manufacturing.” The economic forces that
fueled the post-war boom, built the middle class, and strengthened the union
movement have waned–and we mostly seem to wring our hands about it, or
cheerlead for minor miracles. “
Read the
entire article at Open Salon:
http://open.salon.com/blog/steve_klingaman
Source Article from http://www.opednews.com/Diary/Does-Manufacturing-Matter-by-Steve-Klingaman-120216-32.html
