Obama's ambitious export plan may rekindle free-trade battle

[Freddie Stubbs]

Source: Washington Post

President Obama unveiled plans Thursday to double U.S. exports over the next five years in hopes of spurring job growth, an ambitious goal that may rekindle the battle over free-trade policy.

The president acknowledged the formidable barriers to his goal: doubts in Congress over new free-trade agreements, misaligned currencies that make Chinese products cheaper on global markets, and continued weakness in global demand, all problems that could dwarf efforts to promote U.S. products and services abroad.

But, Obama said in a speech, "in a time when millions of Americans are out of work, boosting our exports is a short-term imperative."

"We are at a moment where it is absolutely necessary for us to get beyond those old debates. . . . Those who once would oppose any trade agreement now understand that there are new markets and new sectors out there that we need to break into if we want our workers to get ahead," he said.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/11/AR2010031100739.html?hpid=moreheadlines

[pattmarty]

1. Yeah, but to even begin to do this we would need factories (actual............

...............physical bldgs), infrastructure, machinery and technical infrastructure which over the past 30 yrs has almost disappeared. I agree we need to do something to get our industrial base again up to the rest of the world, but this is a lot easier said than done. I must say that this sounds like just another "great speech" by Obama and not much will come of it.

[Mari333]

3. repealing NAFTA would be a start, calling out outsourcing

making it harder for companies to do so..and taxing the shit out of companies who do so..

what happened to high taxing the top 1 percent

did obama not say that the manufacturing jobs wont come back?

I dont see Rahm and Timmy turning on their corporate buddies anytime soon.

I remember when this outsourcing accelerated with Reagan. Its been going on ever since, and Clinton and Bush set it on its way too.

[pattmarty]

5. Yep, That's my point. Nice speech, nothing gets done.

[Freddie Stubbs]

20. Repealing NAFTA would increase costs to American consumers

[zipplewrath]

4. Light industrial

What you say is true of the "heavy" industries, the ones that require things like special electrical power infrastrucure, or any other large energy demands. "Light" manufacturing could get up and running pretty quickly. Even large assembly plants only take a couple of years to get in order. Michigan has some facilities I bet they could get up and running in a 9 months to a year.

I see ghosts of the old Clinton team here. Ron Brown ran around the world trying to get more export business for the US. It helped our economy greatly, although much of it was telecommunications based business, not to mention a healthy portion of government and military contracts. Today, I do wonder, other than agriculture, exactly what they think we'd sell to the world.

[pattmarty]

6. Yep, got to have "markets" for the goods. Years ago we had them, now.........

.........we don't and the Chinese and chunks of Europe & South America have them. We have the two "W's", Wal-Mart (which doesn't make a thing) and Wall st (which again, doesn't make a thing). I did forget about the one and only thing we have to export: Military hardware, although it doesn't produce the jobs needed in today's world.

[Lerkfish]

8. no need: we are already outsourcing to factories in other countries

that way we can keep all the money in the pockets of others.

that'll solve EVERYTHING>

[Demeter]

10. I Really Don't Want US to Sell Armaments, Though

There's enough around the globe for the several wars already raging,

and the rest of the world doesn't want to buy our Frankenfood.

[pattmarty]

11. Agree on BOTH counts.

[bossy22]

13. interesting enough

they may be forced to buy our franken food when their population starts starving....World food shortage, coming soon to a country near you

[Freddie Stubbs]

15. Actually, Cuba is quite eager to buy more of our agricultural products

[bossy22]

14. and we have plenty of them

the truth is that U.S. industrial production has doubled in the last 15 years, but that the labor force has shrunk. That is because much of U.S. manufacturing is becoming heavily mechanized; therefore you can build more with less.

The U.S. is still the top manufacturer in the world, producing 2x the amount of goods that the #2 (china) produces. What we produce though isnt your toaster, your microwave, or your TV. No, those cheap items are not built here (due to many reasons) nor should they. Why should we waste our highly capable manufacturing base on such basic non-skilled labor items. What the U.S. does produce are high quality, and skilled labor intensive goods. Things such as Airplanes, Locomatives, Automobiles, Computer Chips, Heavy farm equipment (btw we are really the only world wide producer of heavy farm equipment- John Deere baby!!), heavy construction equipment, pharmacueticals, and chemicals.

The thing that we have to realize is, we aren't going to get manufacturing employment back at what it once was. There is just no need to anymore. Where it once took 20 workers 3 days to build one aircraft jet engine, it now takes 5 workers in 2 days. Mechanization is the way of the future and it would be silly and short sighted of us not to embrace it.

[paulflorez]

16. Shouldn't "mechanized" manufacturing = lower costs than Chinese labor-based manufacturing?

I mean, if a robot is doing all the work, and you don't have to pay it a wage only maintenance costs and probably someone to maintain it and all the other robots, then shouldn't we be able to produce all the crap from China here but at a lower price?

Also, since went are computer chips made in the U.S.? They might be designed in the U.S. but my understanding was that the actual manufacturing of the chips was done in other countries.

[bossy22]

19. to some degree yes

and that is why some things are being insourced again (like GE with its water heaters)

Also, we do manufacture many types of chips here...Intel has many manufacturing facilities around the country

[pampango]

18. Not only are we not going to get our manufacturing employment back as before,

the same applies for agricultural employment of 150 years ago and for the same reason - mechanization.

We grow more food than we ever have before and we manufacture more than we ever have before, but we do both with a lot less labor than ever before. Trying to restore our manufacturing employment of a few decades ago or our agricultural employment of a century and a half ago are equally futile.

I'm sure there doomsayers when farm employment dramatically declined who believed that we couldn't have a successful economy or employ all our people unless 90% of Americans worked on farms; just like folks who say we can't exist without low-tech, labor-intensive manufacturing.

[fasttense]

2. I don't buy it.

"Obama said Thursday that although he sympathized with communities that have lost factories and livelihoods to overseas labor, the country needs to recommit to free trade in a way that ensures Americans benefit through the opening of new markets for their goods and services."

Why are US markets the ones everyone wants to sell to? Seems to me free-trade has done nothing but harm our economy. Recommitting to an abusive system will not make it any less abusive.

[Lerkfish]

7. talk about the tail wagging the dog... all he needs to do is stop outsourcing

that's more attainable, and the only thing that will really increase jobs. What he's proposing will only increase profits on companies that already outsource.

bizarre: its like Obama keeps picking fights he's destined to lose.

[Lasher]

9. One of the very same strategies that got us into this mess in the first place.

I'm having trouble trying to imagine how that is supposed to help us.

[Bluebear]

12. "although he sympathized with communities that have lost factories & livelihoods to overseas labor..

the country must recommit to free trade."

But of course!

[Brickbat]

17. Yes, yes! Free trade is what kept MORE communities from collapsing! It's actually KEPT jobs here!

:eyes:

ETA: Eye roll meant for Obama's attitude, NOT yours!

[bamacrat]

21. Ending the outsourcing tax credit would help.

Companies could still do it only they wouldn't save so much money so therefore even if it didn't create a lot of new jobs it would help with the deficit.

[yurbud]

22. Arne Duncan won't stop until public education is DEAD