Manufacturing is the foundation upon which the service sector sits. If
the manufacturing foundation continues to erode, who are the accounting,
advertising, and law firms going to serve? Each other?
When a
dollar leaves the economy in exchange for a product made, say, in China,
not only does that dollar not contribute to someone's paycheck or stock
dividend here, it also funds investment in improved plant and equipment
in China. Even worse, our taxes must be increased to support a larger
unemployed workforce.
Technology follows manufacturing.
There's abundant evidence that when a plant making products for the
American market closes here and reopens in another country, technology
in the form of engineering soon follows. The first to disappear here is
manufacturing engineering, followed soon thereafter by test
engineers, design engineers, systems designers, project managers,
accountants, et al. We must remember that these are not
just disciplines, they are jobs.
Eventually, we lose the technology base upon which that business rests.
Of course, there are exceptions but the swelling tide of imports over
exports gives indisputable testament to this fact.
We're
not opposed to free trade (assuming it is fair). Nor are we opposed to
other countries' economic growth. But we are concerned that as higher
paying manufacturing jobs are replaced by lower paying service jobs (or
growing unemployment) that we are headed in the wrong direction
|