Obama celebrates return of jobs from China

[Playinghardball]

MILWAUKEE, Wisconsin — A day after telling China’s next leader his country must play by global economic rules, President Barack Obama Wednesday celebrated the return of US jobs from the vast Asian economy.

Obama, seeking to boost manufacturing in key swing states hit by high unemployment as he cranks up his reelection campaign, touted plans to offer tax breaks to companies which bring jobs home from low-wage economies abroad.

He appeared at a plant making padlocks for Master Lock in the midwestern state of Wisconsin, which has recently returned around 100 jobs that were once offshore back to the United States.

“Over the last few years, it’s become more expensive to do business in countries like China,” Obama said.

More: http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/02/15/obama-celebrates-return-of-jobs-from-china/

[JJW]

1. One Hundred Jobs!

Nice going, how about another 100 for his 2nd term?

[notadmblnd]

2. WTF kind of comment is that?

I'm happy that we're not losing 700,000 (that is 7 hundred thousand) jobs a month like we were under Bush.

[xtraxritical]

3. God damned right, the other guy's an dying elephant (I won't say more it would be too easy). eom

[Mosaic]

18. You don't have to curse okay!

I agree about the dying elephant though!

[Skittles]

6. realism

Obama does not seem to have a real grasp on the offshoring / H1B problem, as evidenced by his recent ridiculous incredulous reaction to a woman whose highly qualified husband could not find a job in his job field

[dmallind]

7. Could not find a job in his immediate area that is.

I'm on my 7th state. Jobs every time were the reason.

[JDPriestly]

10. And have you moved children from school to school each time you moved?

Moving is possible for those without families, but very difficult for those with children and maybe a wife who has a job she likes.

[CAPHAVOC]

5. We need to export our regulations and minimum wage rules to China.

Then it would be a fair game.

[pampango]

8. That would require some serious multilateral cooperation with strict enforcement.

Right wing heads will explode with the idea that an international organization (or worse yet, a foreign country itself) might have the power to enforce regulation within a sovereign country. Kind of like the EU government forcing European countries to abide by agreed labor laws.

That works in Europe (but repubs will tell you it works because Europeans are socialists with little regard for national sovereignty). I'm not sure there are enough "socialists" in the US and China to make that work.

[CAPHAVOC]

9. True

But then the big boys would not be able to make there and sell here. That is what they are doing now. Stock goes up. We go down.

[JDPriestly]

11. Actually our NAFTA agreement can be interpreted to

require trading partners to weaken their environmental regulations in some instances.

Why not require the strengthening of environmental regulations in some instances?

[pampango]

15. Agreed. International agreements can work both ways. n/t

[dipsydoodle]

4. I thought Jobs died.

[Lost-in-FL]

12. :chuckle: nt

[Enrique]

13. they buried him too deep

way too deep.

[Gin]

14. I listened to him

And every speech mentions we need training.....did all those Chinese and Indians have the necessary skills? Has manufacturing changed that much? It is good some companies are coming back...but.".all this crap about Americans need the training to fill the jobs is plucking my last nerve.

[Schema Thing]

17. and yet it is 100% true.

[Dragonfli]

21. So many fully trained American Tech workers out of a job and he clings to that myth.

Engineers are out of work as well, my understanding is that they are highly trained professionals, so why must we shop India? Cheaper labor is the motivation and not a lack of people here with Tech skills.

And factory work? That manure is running to thick to walk through, if they can train a 13 year old little girl to assemble electronics in China then I am sure our millions of out of work factory workers rather than children would likely do far better.

He is either a complete fool that is ignoring unemployment figures among professionals and workers in the US or he is a liar.

There are some that need training to be able to qualify for better jobs, but even those jobs have already trained people waiting for openings as it is. We need to stop outsourcing, then we can work on getting more training to individuals that could get better work with the training. The unemployment lines are too long for that to do much good until we get the already trained back to work.

[izquierdista]

16. Have they been checked for lead paint?

Melamine? Half the shit coming out of China is toxic, how do we know these jobs won't be?

[Mosaic]

19. Stop picking on China

Jobs, well that's good news but leave China alone. Sure they haven't evolved yet to democracy, and when they will they will rule the world fairly. It's probably a long way off, get ready to be ruled though, fairly. No whining!

[David__77]

20. Yes, wages in China are rising; hence it is more expensive to "do business" there.

That is a good thing for all countries. We should want "international factor equalization" of labor and capital to facilitate world economic growth.

Obama is playing a populist card of the zero-sum game, but it is no such thing. Both countries gain from these economic relations. The US has a lot of human capital in its workforce - much more so that even 20 years ago. We shouldn't wish to return to the former setup.