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The lightbulb suddenly alights!
2

The lightbulb suddenly alights!

The lightbulb suddenly alights!

(OP)


Bush Vows to Help Restore Lost Manufacturing Jobs


By Steve Holland

RICHFIELD, Ohio (Reuters) - Feeling political heat over lost manufacturing jobs, President Bush (news - web sites) marked Labor Day on Monday with the promise he will work to ensure nations attracting U.S. factories overseas have fair trade policies.  

About 2.5 million of the 3 million U.S. jobs lost since Bush took office in January 2001 have been in the manufacturing sector, and Democrats hoping to unseat him in the 2004 election are using that to say Bush has been a failed steward of the U.S. economy.

Acknowledging that "there's a problem with the manufacturing sector," Bush said he had directed Commerce Secretary Don Evans to appoint an assistant secretary of commerce to focus exclusively on the needs of manufacturers.

"One way to make sure the manufacturing sector does well is to send the message overseas ... We expect there to be a fair playing field when it comes to trade. See, we in America believe we can compete with anybody just so long as the rules are fair, and we intend to keep the rules fair," he said.

Bush donned a union cap as he spoke to the International Union of Operating Engineers at a heavy equipment training site on a gray, rain-soaked day.

He did not single out any countries for increased scrutiny, but U.S. manufacturers are pressuring the Bush administration to protect American jobs against what many see as unfair Japanese and Chinese currency policies.

U.S. companies complain Japan keeps its yen currency artificially low by intervening in currency markets to prevent its appreciation, while China's fixed currency peg has the same effect of giving its products an unfair trade advantage.

Major U.S. business and labor groups said on Friday they might ask the White House for an investigation of alleged currency manipulation by China, a move that could trigger trade sanctions if a negotiated settlement cannot be reached.

The trade complaint by the National Association of Manufacturers (news - web sites) and some 80 other groups would be the first of its kind based on currency intervention, experts said.

The so-called Section 301 complaint, if filed, could markedly escalate the bilateral dispute, which U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow plans to raise with Chinese officials in meetings in Beijing this week.

Determined to avoid the fate of his father, who won the 1991 Gulf War (news - web sites) only to lose re-election in 1992 in a presidential campaign that hinged on the economy, Bush touted his economic agenda in Ohio, a key Midwestern state he won narrowly in the 2000 election. He was to repeat the message in Missouri and Indiana this week.

Democrats said Bush's upbeat message did not match the nation's mood.

Ohio Democratic Rep. Sherrod Brown (news, bio, voting record) said his state had been particularly hard-hit by job losses, with nearly 200,000 private sector jobs gone since January 2001.

"And what is President Bush's response to this unprecedented job loss? More tax cuts for the most privileged people in our society," Brown said.

Bush said the economy was showing solid signs of a rebound, pointing to recent reports that economic output is rising and consumer confidence is up. Job creation has lagged despite these positive factors, however.

"I believe there are better days ahead for people who are working and are looking for work," Bush said.

-END-

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&ncid=578&e=2&u=/nm/20030901/ts_nm/bush_dc




   



RE: The lightbulb suddenly alights!

(OP)
I get the Bonehead Award for misusing the word "alights".  I should have used "brightens".

Apologies in advance.

rhodie

RE: The lightbulb suddenly alights!

rhodie: Perhaps it's just a new "Bushism".

RE: The lightbulb suddenly alights!

LOL

Cyril Guichard
Mechanical Engineer

RE: The lightbulb suddenly alights!

Bush isn't to blame for this. There are issues far larger than the leader of the country involved. The decline started early in the Clinton era.

RE: The lightbulb suddenly alights!

Or was it the Eisenhower era?

RE: The lightbulb suddenly alights!

Clinton gave the Chinese MFN status. Today there is a report by Forbes that India is the most favored destination for American businesses.

RE: The lightbulb suddenly alights!

(OP)
Bush isn't to blame, but he is now resposible for it.  The reason this article is relevant lies in the fact that the current administration has skipped around the true cause of the "economic downturn" for a year.  Now, with this "revelation", they've seemed to nail it on the head.

No one, and I mean NO ONE, was talking about this problem 8 months ago.  Now, it appears the economy/trade practices/labor problem is going to be the cornerstone of many canidate's platform in the coming election.

RE: The lightbulb suddenly alights!

rhodie,
You know I sympathize with you on these trade issues.  I think your optimism is somewhat premature.  There will be no cattle with the hat on this issue, IMO.

I was no fan of Clinton, but he didn't exactly dump NAFTA and MFN status on China by himself.  Both sides of the aisle lined up to declare their support for both of these policies.  (That should have been our first warning! )  Bush is only responding so as to plug a political hole in his dike.  His advisors now feel he may lose votes if he doesn't stem the Dem's tide of criticism toward the "jobless recovery".  Dubbya will only do what he feels is required to "dehorn" his attackers.  This is not a core belief issue for him.  Re-election is.

The sad truth is that both political parties have favored our trade practices up until this point.  Or at least they have favored the campaign contributions they generated.  The people who have spoken against our current policies have been marginalized and derided by most media sources.

I don't believe him.  I doubt his sincerity.  The GAO has consistently issued numbers showing the damage NAFTA was causing.  Why is he only concerned now?

  End of Rant... The light you see at the end of the tunnel is the headlight of an oncoming train.

RE: The lightbulb suddenly alights!

Yes, its amazing what proximity to presidential elections brings - real issues.

RE: The lightbulb suddenly alights!

And how quickly the promises they made are forgotten. Remember when George Sr. said, "Read my lips - no new taxes."? Maybe Geroge W's slogan will be , "Read my lips - no more lost jobs overseas."


                                      Maui

RE: The lightbulb suddenly alights!

Hehe. I believe, as most others, that it is not party specific either. Bring on a good honest canadidate that has screwed up in the past and will openly admit it. This is the person I would vote for. Maybe I should lay down all my wrong doings(lots of them) for all to see and run for President.

RE: The lightbulb suddenly alights!

Golly gosh in the US you have bush saying "read my lips", in Australia our little Johnie says "non core promises".

Wouldn't it be a refreshing change to have a politician (or party) stick by what theya ctually said.


sc

RE: The lightbulb suddenly alights!

But I would LOVE to be proven wrong about my prognostications.  Hope springs eternal?

RE: The lightbulb suddenly alights!

(OP)

I really hope these aren't typical "campaign promises".  I'd be foolish if I thought otherwise.

I'm pretty disenfranchised with US politics on all levels.  Too many people ignore the "Law of Net Harm", and legislate based upon situational ethics.

RE: The lightbulb suddenly alights!

Indeed, there should be little wonder why the vast majority of people of my generation (gen-x, I suppose, who are now in our 30's) who feel general apathy to our political system.  I've previously been a Republican, more so for social issues than economic.  But I'll have to admit that I don't know who I'll be voting for this time around.

I used to believe in the supply side concept, and I think it probably worked a generation ago.  But, I think that the Ken Lay and Worldcomm style of corporate ethics are a lot more common now.  These guys seem to think they're some kind of geniuses for "lowering costs" by shipping these jobs overseas, never bothering to see that a few quarters down the line, there are going to be even fewer customers for their products with all those laid off Americans not buying anything.

Edward L. Klein
Pipe Stress Engineer
Houston, Texas

All opinions expressed here are my own and not my company's.

RE: The lightbulb suddenly alights!

Neither Democrats or Republicans have the answer on this one.

I'll vote for Bush again because of national defense. I simply don't think the Democrats have any solid policies when it comes to this area.

Neither have the answer for the current economy.

RE: The lightbulb suddenly alights!

My suggestion would be for all the laid-off, terminated, downsized or whatever buzzword cost you your job engineers to run for political office!  Engineers are problem solvers and who would be better qualified to clean up the mess created by the political professionals (or professional politicians) that we get to choose from nowdays.  Likely scare the bejesus out of some of the politicos.  Then again, the public might not know how to react to someone who actually told them what they (the candidate) thought rather than what they figure the audience wanted to hear.



Regards

RE: The lightbulb suddenly alights!

A fine idea, but a laid off engineer struggling to keep his family fed and find a new job is not likely to be able to raise the millions of dollars needed these days to buy their way into political office.

No money = No electability.

Edward L. Klein
Pipe Stress Engineer
Houston, Texas

All opinions expressed here are my own and not my company's.

RE: The lightbulb suddenly alights!

Stressguy,

That's where those public donations come in.  Right along with those governmental matching funds.  Whether an engineer could tolerate the political processes would be a whole different thread.

Regards,

RE: The lightbulb suddenly alights!

The President of India is a professional engineer,who has been involved in defence related developments, aerospace and satellite developments,[lacing India on the world map. Ofcourse as a President the constitution gives him very little powers to exercise. So if in a third world country like India an engineer can become President what stops in a developed society like USA to have an engineer as a President. There will certainly come a day when professionals shall be policy makers and form the government and politicians will be displaced(UTOPIAN??)

RE: The lightbulb suddenly alights!

We had an engineer as president... Jimmy Carter, Nuclear Engineer.

RE: The lightbulb suddenly alights!

Yup, that's right !  Carter was in the Navy in a nuclear-powered seagoing vessel (submarine).  No guarantees, Carter was in my opinion one of the worst presidents we ever had.

RE: The lightbulb suddenly alights!

I find the only thing engineers are good at is engineering.

OH, and thinking they know evewrything, but at least we are good at something.

RE: The lightbulb suddenly alights!

Yeah, if Carter had lost the election but appointed Secretary of State he would be a giant in history.

There were more a few U.S. presidents that were engineers, including George Washington.  Jefferson was a "man of science" and an architect, but I don't know if he ever was a practicing CE.  Time was that any army officer needed to be a competent CE just to keep the wheels turning.

So, really, the US already had its "Utopian" revolution guided by very practical and educated professionals in 1776.

All this machinery making modern music can still be open-hearted.

RE: The lightbulb suddenly alights!

TheTick,

I agree with you on Carter.  Bad President but would have been a great Secretary of State.  For all his leasdership faults, he has strong moral convictions and he stands by his beliefs.  But I still don't like his track record as President.

RE: The lightbulb suddenly alights!

Perhaps engineers should form their own political party.  We could be called technocrats .

Regards,

RE: The lightbulb suddenly alights!

amorrison,

I didn't think that it existed anymore.  Thanks for catching my allusion to the past (or should I say forgotten present).

Regards

RE: The lightbulb suddenly alights!

Referring back to the original post for a moment.  This thread was started by Rhodie 5 months ago when Dubbya seemed to acknowledge a problem with the continued loss of manufacturing jobs in the USA.

Last month an additional 26,000 jobs were lost.  The US has lost manufacturing jobs in every month since Bush took office.  Unemployment dropped .2%, however the drop has been attributed to loss of unemployment benefits and job seekers who have simply given up.  Prophesies of a "jobless recovery" appear right on target.

The apparent solution to the problem is now to grant immunity to 6-12 million illegal immigrants and build a permanent space station on the moon.

It would almost be funny if it wasn't so sad.  Comments?

RE: The lightbulb suddenly alights!

Yes it seems as though he would like to increase the unemployment rate by allowing immigrants to come in and fill positions that "US citizens do not want". Hogwash.
I kind of liked the guy until he decided to start pushing for this. The only reasoning I can come up with is minimum wage is to low for someone to make a living so they look or take different jobs or simply stay on welfare. The "immigrants" think this is a lot of money but they don't realize they can not live on minimum wage without some assistance. So, as a result of businesses not increasing wages, they can not find help. So bring on the immigrants, they don't know any better. $5.15/hr (or there abouts) is a lot of money to them (used to their own country where this would put them on the countries richest people list).
Since businesses can not get help, the President decides to help them maintain profits by allowing immigrants in to work for the wages they are willing to pay. I wonder if these people will be eligible for welfare? Also, if their not citizens did you realize they have to pay ZERO taxes? Thats why the smart foreigners never apply for citizenship. In fact, some Americans are changing their citizenship so they don't have to pay taxes.
I think this will affect his approval rating in a huge way.

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