Building the New Economy
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The Campaign for America’s Future is hosting a Building the New Economy conference in Washington, D.C., today, and campaign staffer Mike Elk describes what needs to happen to make a new economy work for all of us.
Today, the Campaign for America’s Future is holding a “Building the New Economy” conference. As we build the new economy, it’s important we build one not based on the assets bubbles of the past but on the firm rock of manufacturing.
As AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka argues:
Flawed trade and tax policies and a financial system focused on short-term profits drove good jobs offshore, led to record trade deficits, and left the economy in ruins. With the manufacturing share of gross domestic product withering to 12 percent (from 15.9 percent in 1995) and the financial sector growing to 22 percent, the structure of the U.S. economy looks more like Monaco than Germany. This growth model of asset bubbles, low wages, credit pyramids, toxic assets and unregulated out-of-control global capital has been a recipe for disaster.
Bad Climate Change Bill Could Cost 4 Million U.S. Jobs
Industries supporting more than 4 million U.S. jobs could be at risk unless lawmakers include strong provisions in climate change legislation to keep energy-intensive, trade-sensitive manufacturers competitive.
A new report says the legislation should include a system of rebates and allowances to help U.S. companies make the transition to lower carbon emissions and a tariff system, or border adjustments, to penalize countries that fail to regulate greenhouse gases in the production of goods.
The report, “Climate Change Policy,” released today by the Economic Policy Institute (EPI), says a well-designed climate policy can support the economic recovery and green investments can support millions of new jobs, starting with the creation of more than 1 million jobs in the next two years. Click here to read the report.
Obama’s New Trade Enforcement Measures a Welcome First Step
The Obama administration unveiled new trade enforcement measures aimed at saving jobs and creating new jobs in the United States by leveling the global playing field for American workers and businesses.
U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk, speaking today at a U.S. Steel plant in Braddock, Pa., near Pittsburgh, said the administration is committed to better enforcement of America’s trade laws, including workers’ rights around the world.
AFL-CIO President John Sweeney praised the commitment to better oversight and enforcement of trade laws.
This is a welcome and long-overdue initiative, and we look forward to working with USTR, Commerce and Labor, among others, to identify and address unfair trade practices that disadvantage domestic producers and workers.
We hope this is only a first installment in President Obama’s pledge to reform our flawed trade policies, however. Enforcement is crucial, but we also need to revisit and strengthen our trade policies and trade laws if we are to rebuild our economy with a vibrant and thriving manufacturing sector.
Manufacturing a Better Future for America
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The United States cannot revive its economy without first rebuilding the nation’s manufacturing base, several experts say. While most of us understand how devastating the loss of a plant can be to a community and to the economy, policymakers don’t get it, they add.
During a roundtable discussion yesterday in Washington, D.C., several contributors to a new book, Manufacturing a Better Future for America, spelled out the case for a bold new U.S. industrial policy.
Simply put: For nearly 300 years, the United States invested in producing goods and, as a result, became the richest nation in history. But for the past few decades, policymakers have systematically dismantled our manufacturing base through bad tax policies and short-sighted trade agreements that encourage consumption of cheap foreign imports and provide incentives for U.S.-based companies to export jobs.
Chamber of Commerce Sides with Foreign Embassies Against Buy American
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There they go again. Those running the show at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce are attacking again the Buy American provision in the economic stimulus package.
Ignoring, once more, that Buy American makes fundamental economic sense by ensuring at least some of our taxpayer bailout money is invested in American-made productions, the Chamber is siding with foreign embassies battling the Buy American provisions. In a June 2 letter to lawmakers, Bruce Josten, the Chamber’s executive vice president for government affairs, asked Congress to exclude Buy American provisions from all legislation.
More recently, the Chamber held a joint press conference June 11 with the Canadian Manufacturers and Exporters to decry the Buy American provisions in the stimulus. For a trade association with “U.S.” in its name, siding with foreign corporations against those in the United States is, well, you fill in the word that best describes it.
Keep It Made in America: Our Future Depends On It
The pundits and politicians inside the Washington Beltway don’t get: If the United States continues to send its manufacturing jobs overseas—as General Motors and Chrysler are now proposing—the result will be more low-income U.S. families.
So today, workers, economists, academics and business and union leaders, fresh from the “Keep It Made in America” bus tour through the nation’s heartland, brought that message to the policymakers’ doorstep as part of a teach-in on Capitol Hill.
The 11-day, 34-city bus tour showcased the ripple effect on communities of the lost jobs in manufacturing. (See video.) Today, during the teach-in, those who took part brought the stories they heard along the tour and presented principles for revitalizing the auto industry to members of Congress and the press.
‘Keep It Made in America’ Bus Tour Kicks Off
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| Actor Danny Glover tells a Michigan crowd the value of saving U.S. auto jobs. |
With more than 7.2 million paychecks dependent on U.S. autos, a coalition of unions and allies is taking part in a nationwide ”Keep It Made in America” bus tour to send the message that millions of jobs are tied to the fate of the U.S. auto industry. The tour, which kicked off yesterday, will travel to 34 cities in 11 states and ends in Washington, D.C., May 19 for a daylong “teach-in” on the impact of the automotive supply chain in communities and to present a plan to save the auto industry.
The tour is sponsored by the United Steelworkers (USW), the Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM) and the Mayors and Municipalities Automotive Coalition (MMAC). Says Scott Paul, executive director of AAM:
We all have a stake in a strong domestic automobile industry. That’s why we will put forward a plan to strengthen the automotive supply chain and get America back to work.
Bus tour participants include actor and social activist Danny Glover, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, community leaders, elected officials, labor leaders and workers from steel, iron, glass, plastics and rubber, aluminum and auto parts facilities, along with local auto dealers, community employers and local community and elected leaders.
