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The title is politically loaded. There's something that article is trying to say vis-a-vis government subsidies and free trade, but it never quite materializes,

The title is politically loaded. There's something that article is trying to say vis-a-vis government subsidies and free trade, but it never quite materializes, at least I couldn't understand it. But I had no trouble understanding the political outrage it is dripping with.

anigbrowl 17y ago
He's mad that even though the government is administering a massive Keynesian stimulus as are a lot of others right now, including China, unlike those countries none of it seems to be routed towards solar power eagerly enough to create a big market for it here, and the resultant manufacturing jobs. So if you decide to bet the farm on solar and cover the roof of your house/commercial building with panels, you'll have to import them which negatively affects our balance of trade - even if you want to buy an American brand like AM. I personally don't have a manufacturing fetish, but a lot of people are deeply worried about the comparative advantage in cheap labor that exists in China and neighboring countries, because not so long ago you could make a good living and provide for your family with a skilled labor job in an American factory, and many of those jobs have evaporated or been devalued as manufacturing has been exported. There is not as much money in service work and IP creation doesn't involve as many people as manufacturing, so there's a lot of quite skilled and hard-working people who are unable to get decent and dignified work. A young or single person can easily contemplate relocating to an area of greater economic activity, but if you're middle-aged and have a family that may not be a practical option. This is reason there are so many crappy little web development and design companies out there, people who saw the change coming in time have tried to switch towards digital manufacturing with varying degrees of success. But many feel there's a lot less money in digital development than in physical manufacturing - after all, physical manufacturing doesn't employ just factory works, but machinists, construction workers, truckers, truck builders and so on. Think of it like the dustbowl agricultural failure that led to mass migration during the great depression, but with factories instead of farms. If employment doesn't recover within the next 12 months, there will be a great deal of pressure after the 2010 elections for punitive tariffs on imports a la Smoot-Hawley, which will include computer equipment since most of it is manufactured in Asia. Outsourcing will continue apace, not least because it's currently absurdly cheap to ship the stuff from there to here, exacerbating the problem. Outsourcing manufacturing has been very good for consumers and I feel that evolving towards a more globalized economy is a Good Thing, but while large wage differentials persist it's very destructive of small-scale wealth that depended on wages from local manufacturing. Most people are not, and don't want to be, entrepreneurs, and are angry because they invested a lot of hard work in building up their family's capital only to see their 'business model' (work hard, get paid) shredded.

anigbrowl 17y ago

He's mad that even though the government is administering a massive Keynesian stimulus as are a lot of others right now, including China, unlike those countries none of it seems to be routed towards solar power eagerly enough to create a big market for it here, and the resultant manufacturing jobs. So if you decide to bet the farm on solar and cover the roof of your house/commercial building with panels, you'll have to import them which negatively affects our balance of trade - even if you want to buy an American brand like AM. I personally don't have a manufacturing fetish, but a lot of people are deeply worried about the comparative advantage in cheap labor that exists in China and neighboring countries, because not so long ago you could make a good living and provide for your family with a skilled labor job in an American factory, and many of those jobs have evaporated or been devalued as manufacturing has been exported. There is not as much money in service work and IP creation doesn't involve as many people as manufacturing, so there's a lot of quite skilled and hard-working people who are unable to get decent and dignified work. A young or single person can easily contemplate relocating to an area of greater economic activity, but if you're middle-aged and have a family that may not be a practical option. This is reason there are so many crappy little web development and design companies out there, people who saw the change coming in time have tried to switch towards digital manufacturing with varying degrees of success. But many feel there's a lot less money in digital development than in physical manufacturing - after all, physical manufacturing doesn't employ just factory works, but machinists, construction workers, truckers, truck builders and so on. Think of it like the dustbowl agricultural failure that led to mass migration during the great depression, but with factories instead of farms. If employment doesn't recover within the next 12 months, there will be a great deal of pressure after the 2010 elections for punitive tariffs on imports a la Smoot-Hawley, which will include computer equipment since most of it is manufactured in Asia. Outsourcing will continue apace, not least because it's currently absurdly cheap to ship the stuff from there to here, exacerbating the problem. Outsourcing manufacturing has been very good for consumers and I feel that evolving towards a more globalized economy is a Good Thing, but while large wage differentials persist it's very destructive of small-scale wealth that depended on wages from local manufacturing. Most people are not, and don't want to be, entrepreneurs, and are angry because they invested a lot of hard work in building up their family's capital only to see their 'business model' (work hard, get paid) shredded.