"jim" "sjedgingN0Sp"@m@mwt,net wrote in message
...


" wrote:

On Sep 10, 4:11 pm, jim "sjedgingN0Sp"@m@mwt,net wrote:
" wrote:
Ed Huntress

So you are saying that some political postings are on topic?

Don't you think the question of whether the US will grow its
manufacturing sector or whether it will continue to export
manufacturing jobs is relevant topic?

You do realize that this is RCM. And the R stands for recreation. So
no I do not think that is a relevant topic.


Well, Good luck with your recreational metalworking when
all the manufacturing has left.

Dan has a point, but it's also true that many of the people here do some, or
a lot, of commercial metalworking. Some are commercial job-shop owners or
product manufacturers. Issues relating to the state of US manufacturing have
always been an issue on RCM, at least for the ten years I've been here.

But don't think that US manufacturing is leaving. What's "left" is the jobs.
The dollar volume of US manufacturing continues to climb (you know how to
find the graphs and tables from the St. Louis Fed and others), and our
exports are substantial -- $1.29 trillion in exported goods, versus $1.98 in
imported goods in 2010. Our manufacturing has narrowed to the higher end and
to later stages of assembly, but the total quantity of it is greater than
ever.

The key is that manufacturing has had productivity improvements at a rate
close to twice that of the US economy as a whole for over 20 years; around
4% annually. It's eaten into the manufacturing jobs, and those that remain
require much more education than they used to. So it is a serious economic
problem but most of it is the result of a combination of productivity
improvements and competition from low-wage countries for the lower-end work,
especially consumer products. This is a structural issue and no amount of
wishful thinking will change it.

--
Ed Huntress