OurFuture.org Blogs: Tula Connell

China and the U.S. Housing Bubble

Tula Connell — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 12:20:34 -0700

We often write about how China’s policy to devalue its currency, the yuan, has been a key factor in the U.S. trade deficit.

It’s not an easy issue to grasp. But economist Paul Krugman devotes an entire column to explaining why China’s devalued currency has such ramifications for our country. Here’s Krugman:

If supply and demand had been allowed to prevail, the value of China’s currency would have risen sharply. But Chinese authorities didn’t let it rise. They kept it down by selling vast quantities of the currency, acquiring in return an enormous hoard of foreign assets, mostly in dollars, currently worth about $2.1 trillion.

Many economists, myself included, believe that China’s asset-buying spree helped inflate the housing bubble, setting the stage for the global financial crisis. But China’s insistence on keeping the yuan/dollar rate fixed, even when the dollar declines, may be doing even more harm now.

Read the entire column here.

‘Young Workers: A Lost Decade’

Tula Connell — Wed, 02 Sep 2009 07:15:25 -0700

Something bad happened in the past 10 years to young workers in this country: Since 1999, more of them now have lower-paying jobs, if they can get a job at all; health care is a rare luxury and retirement security is something for their parents, not them. In fact, many—younger than 35—still live at home with their parents because they can’t afford to be on their own.

These are the findings of a new report, “Young Workers: A Lost Decade.” Conducted in July 2009 by Peter D. Hart Research Associates for the AFL-CIO and our community affiliate Working America, the nationwide survey of 1,156 people follows up on a similar survey the AFL-CIO conducted in 1999. The deterioration of young workers’ economic situation in those 10 years is alarming.

Nate Scherer, 31, is among today’s young workers. Scherer lives in Columbus, Ohio, where he shares a home with his wife, his parents, brother and his partner. He spoke at a media conference at the AFL-CIO today to discuss the report.

After getting married, my wife and I decided to move in with my parents to pay off our bills. We could afford to live on our own but we’d never be able to get out of debt. We have school loans to pay off, too. We’d like to have children, but we just can’t manage the expense of it right now…so we’re putting it off till we’re in a better place. My [work] position is on the edge, and I feel like if my company were to cut back, my position would be one of the first to go.

During today’s press briefing, AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Richard Trumka summed up the report’s findings this way:

We’re calling the report “A Lost Decade” because we’re seeing 10 years of opportunity lost as young workers across the board are struggling to keep their heads above water and often not succeeding. They’ve put off adulthood—put off having kids, put off education—and a full 34 percent of workers under 35 live with their parents for financial reasons.

Just last week we learned that about 1.7 million fewer teenagers and young adults were employed in July than a year before, hitting a record low of 51.4 percent.

As AFL-CIO President John Sweeney said:

Young workers in particular must be given the tools to lead the next generation to prosperity. The national survey we’re releasing today shows just how broken our economy is for our young people…and what’s at stake if we don’t fix it.

Some of the report’s key findings include:

31 percent of young workers report being uninsured, up from 24 percent 10 years ago, and 79 percent of the uninsured say they don’t have coverage because they can’t afford it or their employer does not offer it.
Strikingly, one in three young workers are currently living at home with their parents.
Only 31 percent say they make enough money to cover their bills and put some money aside—22 percentage points fewer than in 1999—while 24 percent cannot even pay their monthly bills.
A third cannot pay their bills and seven in 10 do not have enough saved to cover two months of living expenses.
37 percent have put off education or professional development because they can’t afford it.
When asked who is most responsible for the country’s economic woes, close to 50 percent of young workers place the blame on Wall Street and banks or corporate CEOs. And young workers say greed by corporations and CEOs is the factor most to blame for in the current financial downturn.
By a 22-point margin, young workers favor expanding public investment over reducing the budget deficit. Young workers rank conservative economic approaches such as reducing taxes, government spending and regulation on business among the five lowest of 16 long-term priorities for Congress and the president.
Thirty-five percent say they voted for the first time in 2008, and nearly three-quarters now keep tabs on government and public affairs, even when there’s not an election going on.
The majority of young workers and nearly 70 percent of first-time voters are confident that Obama will take the country in the right direction.

Trumka, who is running for AFL-CIO president without announced opposition at our convention later this month, is making union outreach to young people a top priority. He said one of the report’s conclusions is especially striking:

Young people want to be involved but they’re rarely asked. Their priorities are even more progressive than the priorities of the older generation of working people, yet they aren’t engaged by co-workers or friends to get involved in the economic debate.

Currently, 18-to-35-year-olds make up a quarter of union membership. And at the AFL-CIO Convention, we will ask Convention delegates to approve plans for broad recruitment of young workers, as well as plans for training and leadership of young workers who are currently union members. And that’s just the beginning of a broad push towards talking and mobilizing young workers in the coming months and years.

According to the report, more than half of young workers say employees are more successful getting problems resolved as a group rather than as individuals, and employees who have a union are better off than employees in similar jobs who do not.

Read the full report here.

We Are All Steeworkers

Tula Connell — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 09:28:46 -0700

So I took a tour of a steel plant today. There was a lot of hot, molten steel, but also high-tech computerized systems running the show, making sure just enough steel is poured into a mold at just the right temperature and speed, among many other functions. The tour was sponsored by the Alliance for American Manufacturing and the Campaign for America's Future as part of the Netroots Nation conference here in Pittsburgh.

On the way to the Edgar Thomson plant, we passed by the spot on the Monongahela River where, in 1892, striking steelworkers literally did battle with Pinkerton thugs who tried a sneak attack on them from barges in the river. The workers were prepared, and the Pinkertons surrendered. Ultimately, though, Carnegie, the owner of the plant, won the Homestead strike.

Passing by Homestead was a reminder that many people associate steel mills with the hazy history of our nation But this tour was not about nostalgia. It was about the future—and how steel plants and manufacturing must be an essential part of 21st century America, or our economy will wither. And while Homestead and other early 20th century labor battles often were hand-to-hand combat, the new corporate masters are no less brutal than the old—just a lot more clever.

Earlier today at the panel "Bloggers and Blue Collar Workers Unite: You Have Nothing to Lose but Wall Street Domination," Rep. Donna Edwards (D-Md.) pointed to how the same anti-worker corporate interests that are fighting health care reform and other key progressive issues push relentlessly to move overseas family-supporting jobs like those at steel plants.

These same corporate interests ensure that Congress maintains policies that reward their short-term profits—like sending jobs overseas—rather than developing long-term strategies for strengthening our economy.

A far-reaching policy would place the United States at the center of green jobs creation. It would understand that when manufacturing jobs go away, so does the R&D—and our nation cannot get ahead with such a brain drain. It would recognize that the current economic disaster showed that the nation cannot rely on the financial services industry as the generator of its economy. If we don’t make things, that is, if U.S. manufacturing is not revived, we will have nothing to export and no job creation.

United Steelworkers President Leo Gerard, who also was on the panel, noted that it's no accident that China is making 90 percent of the solar panels in the world. China's government wants its country to be at the forefront of this technology, and so it is.

Edwards discussed how the creation of a high-speed train in this country passed Congress—yet we have no way to make any of the tracks, cars or engines for the new system.

The USW members at the U.S. Steel plant are proud of what they do, and it showed as they maneuvered our groups around the massive machines and 3,000-degree steel plates. They know what too many Americans don't—unless we make things in this country, we die.

Jobs Don't Live Here Anymore

Tula Connell — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 10:30:24 -0700

The unemployment data is due tomorrow, and it's likely to be bad, with an expected 300,000 to 320,000 jobs lost in July, according to the Economic Policy Institute (EPI) and others. That's a big problem. But unfortunately, when it comes to getting the nation back to work, tomorrow's unemployment rate isn't the biggest problem we face.

What's really troubling is long-term unemployment.

EPI economists see the economic stimulus as alleviating the jobs crisis created under Bush. In fact, the economic recovery program already has saved or created some 750,000 jobs. Plus, says John Irons, EPI director of research and policy, the gross domestic product (GDP) report last week showing GDP shrunk far less in the second quarter of this year (-1 percent) than the first quarter (-6.4 percent). That means

we're beginning to see the fingerprints of the economic recovery package.

Yet millions of America's workers—the largest number of workers for the longest period out of any of the previous recessions—have been without jobs for more than six months. They are the long-term unemployed. And their prospects don't look so good. There are now 5.7 workers looking for every one job available. By comparison, at the start of the recession, there were 1.7 unemployed workers per job opening, less than a third of the current figure.

The more than 4.7 million long-term unemployed workers, says EPI economist Heidi Sheirholz, represent

enormous numbers. Job seekers are simply not able to find work in this labor market.

And worse:

We're looking at a really long period when long-term unemployment will continue to rise.

Many of these long-term unemployed are not casualties of the decline in manufacturing jobs. On the contrary, says Sheirholz:

Workers older and more educated are less likely to be unemployed but once they are unemployed they stay longer. They are a big contributing factor to the long-term unemployment.

These figures, and tomorrow's jobs report, make it critical for Congress to extend unemployment insurance (UI). That's a no-brainer, says Irons. By the end of September, another 500,000 workers will exhaust their unemployment insurance.

Next, we need another round of economic recovery action. At its recent meeting, the AFL-CIO Executive Council called for a second round of recovery, specifically urging Congress to:

Extend unemployment benefits immediately, by at least seven weeks, to help the hundreds of thousands of workers who would otherwise exhaust their benefits in the near term.
Increase food stamp spending as needed to help families cope with the downturn.
Increase aid to state and local governments.
Bolster the financial stability of independent government agencies such as the U.S. Postal Service.
Increase spending for needed infrastructure and clean energy projects, even for those projects with a time horizon longer than two years.

(Full statement here.)

Ultimately, we need government policies that fuel the continued growth of jobs that pay enough to support those who work at them—and their families. One step toward this is creating a national industrial policy to guide our nation's economic future. Industrial policy isn't just about manufacturing jobs. Because when the United States loses manufacturing jobs, it loses the research and development that goes with it. As Dave Johnson writes, at the Campaign for America's Future:

The phrase "industrial policy" sounds so Walter Mondale, 1970s, smokestacks and brick factory old-fashioned.

So, how do we make "industrial policy" sound sexy enough to get the attention afforded to the teabaggers—or, at least, enough attention to make it clear it matters?

I'll be on a panel next week at Netroots Nation discussing this very issue: Bloggers and Blue-Collar Workers Unite—You Have Nothing to Lose But Wall Street Domination. So let me know your ideas and I'll pack them up and take them with me.

Findlay, Ohio, Chamber of Commerce Kills Buy America Parade Because Unions Backed It

Tula Connell — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 07:20:08 -0700

The Chamber of Commerce--that's the U.S. Chamber of Commerce--proved once again how anti-American it is when it comes to supporting U.S. industry.

In Findlay, Ohio, unions had been organizing a parade and all-day event for this Saturday to highlight American-made products and the need for U.S. trade and economic policies that reward job growth in this country. The unions worked hard to get the business community involved and spent months meeting with the city's Republican mayor, who supported the plans.

But in the end, GreaterFindayInc., the local Chamber arm, killed the Heart of Commerce and Community Celebration. Says Donnie Blatt, United Steelworkers (USW) Rapid Response coordinator for District 1:

GreaterFindlayInc. did everything they could to sabotage us. They told business not to cooperate with us.

Looks like GreaterFindlay also put a lot of pressure on Mayor Pete Sehnert, who now says the city will hold a similar event next year-but without the participation of unions in organizing it.

Seems GreaterFindlay now has the mayor just where they want him. (To e-mail GreaterFindlay, you need to fill out a form--here--and submit it.) According to the local newspaper:

"Basically, Findlay's a non-union, Republican area and mostly what we had were Democratic speakers and union people," Sehnert said. "It's not what I had in mind."

Someone could infer from Sehnert's statement that a pro-America, buy-America celebration isn't supported by Republicans. Because the Greater Findlay Chamber of Commerce rejected an event that would have opened with a parade of U.S.-made, union-made Harley-Davidsons and classic American autos driving down Main Street, alongside floats showcasing American-made products. Speakers would have included U.S. Reps. Marcy Kaptur and Betty Sutton, the state attorney general and state treasurer. Blatt says Gov. Ted Strickland was thinking of speaking as well.

The state's oldest manufacturing firm planned to join the festivities, with its owner speaking about the importance of keeping manufacturing in Ohio. USW District 1 planned to give out free hotdogs and hamburgers.

Blatt and Rod Nelson, president of USW Local 207L, and Rob Greer, USW Rapid Response coordinator, met weekly with the mayor over two months, constantly reiterating that they did not want the Heart of Commerce and Community Celebration to be solely a "union event" but sought participation by the local business community.

Their goal from the start was to ensure that local business played a key role in the event, where they could display "made in Ohio" products to offer consumers locally made options. Says Blatt:

We told the mayor: "We don't want this to be a union event. We want this to be a celebration of American manufacturing, a celebration of American workers. We want this to be a community celebration highlighting the need to keep good jobs in the U.S. and in Ohio.

But Blatt says the Chamber of Commerce didn't see it that way.

The mayor came back repeatedly and said the GreaterFindleyInc. were raising hell with him because they said this is a union event.

I said the only reason this is a union event is that they're making it a union event.

Blatt and the union members who worked so hard to pull together this event did so because we need jobs in this country. Just ask the 26 million U.S. jobless workers who need jobs or full-time work but cannot find it. Blatt summarizes the event this way:

We wanted us all to come together to show the importance of keeping jobs in America.

Clearly, once again, keeping jobs in America is not an economic strategy that interests the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. (Let's just delete the "U.S." portion of that name, shall we?)

This is a crosspost from Firedoglake.com.

Chamber of Commerce Sides with Foreign Embassies Against Buy American

Tula Connell — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 06:15:21 -0700

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.

Auggie Tantillo, executive director of the American Manufacturing Trade Action Coalition (AMTAC), framed the Chamber's action this way, according to the Daily Labor Report (subscription required):

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is effectively suggesting that America needs to buy more Canadian to dig out of our economic hole. That position doesn't pass the U.S. economic interest laugh test.

The Chamber's anti-Buy American stance, which undermines the interests of America's workers, also isn't amusing for the millions of jobless workers in this nation.

In fact, the Chamber's false argument that Buy America provisions will start a "trade war" is a tired one. The stimulus requires that U.S. material be used in projects funded by the bill, but also states that the clause should not override U.S. international trade commitments.

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative spokeswoman Deborah Mesloh said the Obama administration is committed to ensuring that the Buy America requirements in the stimulus legislation are applied in a manner that is consistent with U.S. obligations under international agreements.

Scott Paul, executive director of the Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM), said the rules are necessary to boost the sagging domestic economy and should be included in other spending bills.

It is common sense that a small portion of your tax dollars in a stimulus package dedicated to stimulating the American economy be spent in America.

At the AAM blog, Steve Capozzola knocks down the Chamber's feeble arguments against the Buy American provisions.

Buy America provisions in the recent stimulus bill are both consistent with longstanding U.S. policy and adhere to America's international trade obligations.
Most other countries utilize the same domestic procurement efforts.
Furthermore, the U.S. has been a leading proponent of the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA), which opens the U.S. market to foreign bids. Some of the very countries criticizing Buy America policy have made no such reciprocal efforts to open their markets.

Tantillo, whose AMTAC is founded by U.S. manufacturers, succinctly sums up the need for Buy American provisions:

The only way for the U.S. economy to climb out of recession is for people to start buying more American-made goods and services, including the U.S. government.

This is a crosspost from AFL-CIO Now blog.

Made in America: Corporate PR, Not Practice

Tula Connell — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 08:33:49 -0700

Big Business wants it both ways: It wants to wrap itself in the ol' red, white and blue while feeding the decline of the U.S. economy through its actual practices.

Here's the latest example of such corporate hypocrisy. Over the Memorial Day weekend, J.C. Penney advertised a silkscreen T-shirt bearing the slogan, "American Made." Yet when Joe Allen, a retired apparel manufacturer in the Dallas area, bought the T-shirt, he found it actually was made in Mexico—"of USA fabric."

Allen didn't just shrug off such a blatant sleight of hand. He took action, contacting Steve Capozzola at the Alliance for American Manufacturing. Capozzola sent an e-mail to J.C. Penney, saying that the ad was deceptive and asking why the shirt "was emblazoned with an 'American Made' slogan when it was in fact made in Mexico."

Here's what J.C. Penney spokesperson Kelly Sanchez had to say:

You indicate that there was a shirt that depicted the slogan "American Made." This type of slogan is referring to the actual person wearing the shirt and not to the manufacturing of the merchandise.

Being born in America isn't a big benefit if you can't find a job in the United States to support yourself and your family. Corporations that lie about the hollowing out of our economy are destroying our middle class. Their enablers, such as TV blatherer Bill O'Reilly, further the sham when they assert there are no places in the United States where corporations can go to make sure their products are American made. In short, such statements are a lie.

Big Business knows the American public overwhelmingly supports products made in America. Earlier this year, when Congress debated adding the "Buy America" provisions to the economic recovery package, 84 percent of the U.S. public said they favored incuding "Buy America" provisions compared with only 4 percent who were strongly opposed, according to a survey by Harris Interactive on behalf of the Alliance for American Manufacturing.

The nation's recent financial collapse should be more than enough proof that our economy can't survive soley based on non-goods producing industries. As economist Jeff Madrick pointedly puts it:

Without something to export, a nation will either become over-indebted or forced to reduce its standard of living.

Joe Allen took action, and so should each of us. Contact corporations and tell them you want their products Made in America. And let us know when you do. We want to write about your actions here.

Tell Bill O'Reilly to Buy USA-Made T-Shirts for His Patriot Store

Tula Connell — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 06:52:28 -0700

We heard Bill O'Reilly is having trouble finding American-made T-shirts to sell in his Patriot Store. We know he's heartbroken because, after all, what good is a Patriot Store if its products are made in El Salvador or Haiti? (Especially if you're selling red, white and blue "American Patriot" T-shirts, like the one on the left.)

We heard he can't find made-in-the-USA T-shirts because O'Reilly said so himself (h/t to D-Day). In his "Mailbag" segment on May 22, O'Reilly took the following question from Stewart Hollins in Rio Rancho, N.M.:

Mr. O, great looking mugs. Terrific bold and fresh shirts. Where are the items made?

And O' Reilly responded:

Mugs are made in the USA, Stewart. The shirts in Central America. We cannot get the volume of shirts we need made in America, sadly.

Actually, Bill, you can. And not only American-made, but union made. And there's nothing more patriotic than buying the products made by the heart of America's working middle class.

A spokeswoman from Image Pointe, based in Waterloo, Iowa, says the company has 40,000 T-shirts on hand, and another 200,000 easily accessible from their vendor. That's on hand, instant delivery. After that, the company can churn out 10,000 T-shirts a day. The shirts are made in places like Chicago, Pennsylvania, the Carolinas and San Francisco. That is, made in the USA. And all made by union members.

Not enough T-shirts there for you, Bill?

You can always supplement orders with K& R Industries in Chantilly, Va., where a spokeswoman says the company could provide any amount of American-made, union-made T-shirts needed. Just give them a heads up.

In the off-chance Bill O doesn't read blogs, how about sending him a message and telling him his Patriot Store should carry American-made products? If he's a real patriot, he'll be happy you asked.

This is a crosspost from Firedoglake.com.

Broken Dreams and Cookie Crumbs

Tula Connell — Fri, 29 May 2009 06:25:57 -0700

When Brynwood Partners in 2006 took over the Stella D'oro factory in the Bronx, the Wall Street private equity firm had every reason to believe it would be easy to slash the wages, pensions, holidays and sick pay of the 136 bakery workers.

But the takeover brainos forgot one important fact: The workers are represented by a union, Local 50 of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers (BCTGM). And throughout their more than nine-month strike, the workers have been strongly supported by their union brothers and sisters and by members of the community as they walk the picket line every day outside the plant where Brynwood now employs strikebreakers.

The saga of Stella is part of an all-too-familiar story of what has become our American Dream—a Dream deflated, bust and broken by unfettered corporate greed. Originally a family-owned firm, Stella was acquired by RJR Nabisco, then taken over by Kraft when RJR Nabisco broke up (in the wake of the disastrous KKR leveraged buyout). Stella was run into the ground by its corporate overseers, then dumped to private equity earlier this decade when Kraft began to dispose of "non-core" assets under pressure from Wall Street.

Generations of New Yorkers grew up with and loved Stella D'oro cookies, once an iconic, national, premium Italian-style biscuit brand.

Vicky has 28 years on the job baking those cookies. She began work at Stella D'oro at age 20. Now she has no paycheck coming in nor any health benefits. Vicky and her co-workers walk the strike lines at West 237th and Broadway every day, defying corporate chieftains who, after the union contract expired July 31, 2008, demanded reduced wages, four fewer paid holidays and workers shell out an additional $1.32 per hour for health insurance.

Imagine the equity guys having to sweat over $1.32 an hour. If only.

Every day is another hardship for the workers on the picket line. A month into the strike, they already were talking among themselves about their fading American Dream. This from the Riverdale Press:

On Sept. 11, nearly a month since the 24-hour picket outside of the Kingsbridge factory began, striking workers sat on lawn chairs underneath their usual blue tarp and an American flag.

It was a day fraught with symbolism, as workers struggled to make sense of the stark contrast between the patriotism they felt on the anniversary of that tragic day and the American dream they say is slipping away from them.

The bakery workers have been joined on the picket lines by nurses, staff at the City University of New York, textile workers and many others, with New York State Teachers Union recently presenting the workers with $2,500 for their strike fund. The workers have taken their struggle to the luxurious offices of Brynwood Partners in Greenwich, Conn., and to the home of Brynwood Partners and Stella D'oro Chairman Hendrik Hartong III, son of Henk Hartong Jr., former Pittston coal CEO and Brynwood founder.

If you're in New York, stop by the picket lines or take part in a rally and march this Saturday, May 30. The group is assembling at noon at the Target on West 225 Street, one block east of #1 Station and will march to Stella D'oro factory at 237 Street/Broadway.

Either way, you can take action to support the striking workers by sending an e-mail to Henk Hartong and Brynwood Partners at huppsv@brynwoodpartners.com or info@brynwoodpartners.com. Tell them to go back to the bargaining table and negotiate a fair agreement to preserve the living standards of their loyal employees.

Solidarity is what has enabled the workers to withstand these long months without pay or health care. Solidarity is what will enable them to win.

Take the Pledge: Buy America

Tula Connell — Fri, 22 May 2009 06:55:10 -0700

So, the world isn't flat after all. Not that some of us ever bought into Thomas Friedman-speak. But many in this country did, especially those running the political show, and now we have a chance to shape a progressive future on the ashes of such failed visions.

And that progressive future needs a widespread recognition of the acceptance of the need to Buy America. A good first step is taking the American Auto Revivial Pledge.

One of the hardest connections for those of us in the union movement to make with our progressive allies has been in the area of trade and policies that encourage U.S. consumers to Buy American Made. Especially Buy America.

Why is that so?

Calls to buy American-made products are not throwbacks to 19th century U.S. xenophobia. Nor are they red flags for launching trade wars. The fact is, European nations have significant legal trade barriors that are called everything but what they are, protectionist. And far from isolationists, U.S. unions work closely with our union brothers and sisters around the world, championing the rights of workers wherever they are abused.

In fact, those who most stridently oppose Buy America are the very self-styled cheerleaders of the ol' red, white and blue: the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Business Roundtable, opponents of all things progressive.

Many kudos to social activist Danny Glover who last week joined an 11-state, 34-city "Keep It Made in America" bus tour sponsored in part by the United Steelworkers (USW). Glover told the crowd that saving the auto industry is good for the country because it saves good jobs. And it's important to help more workers join unions so they, too, can have benefits and decent wages.

On Tuesday, bus tour participants held a daylong "teach-in" on Capitol Hill to highlight the impact of the automotive supply chain in communities and to present a plan to save the auto industry. In short, 7.2 million U.S. jobs are tied to the American auto industry. Laid-off steelworker Doug May from Edwardsville, Ill., put it in these stark terms:

As a USW member, I sent three children through college. I feel sorry for some of the younger families. They won't have opportunities if the manufacturing base fails. How are we going to compete if we can't send our kids to college?

If the mill closes, it will be an ugly scene [leading to] an increase in alcoholism, divorces. If pensioners are cut off, it could create an economic tsunami.

But it's not just about the next 20 or 30 years. Making sure the nation keeps quality U.S. jobs is essential to the nation's long-term future. And buying the products we make encourages more made in this country. Economist Jeff Madrick sums it up this way:

There are at least three major reasons why a nation must indeed make things to maintain its prosperity: First, making goods is on balance—with exceptions—more productive than providing services, and rising productivity is the fundamental source of prosperity; second, related to the first, making goods creates higher-paying jobs on balance—again, with a few exceptions; third, a major nation must be able to maintain a balanced current account (and trade balance) over time, and goods are far more tradeable than services. Without something to export, a nation will either become over-indebted or forced to reduce its standard of living.

USW President Leo Gerard talked with workers along the Keep It Made in America bus tour. As Gerard notes, workers like Kevin Vest have a clear view of why Buy America is critical to the future of all of us. Vest, a truck driver, was furloughed with 600 other Steelworkers Feb. 13 from Freeport-McMoRan's Chino mine in New Mexico.

He read in a newspaper about a $100 million wind farm to be built near his daughter's house in Arizona. The 30 wind turbines are to be manufactured by a company from India and the huge towers are to be constructed in Mexico. Vest wants to know why GE can't make those turbines. If the American company did the work, they'd probably buy the copper wire for the turbines from an American company. And that company might buy the ore to make the wire from his mine—or some other downed U.S. copper mine, putting some Steelworker back to work....

For the same reason, Vest always buys American cars. There's copper wire in engines and molybdenum (molly) in other steel car parts. Buying that car keeps him employed, but also fellow Americans who make the glass and axles and all the other parts.

Corporations are gutting this nation. And increasingly, they are doing so even when their U.S. plants are profitable. In Lackawanna, N.Y., ArcelorMittal is disembowling a steel mill that employes 260 workers and has rebuffed efforts to sell the plant to an interested U.S. buyer. The plant has been consistently profitable, earning $48.4 million even in a recessionary year like 2008. Such a move is not an isolated incident, writes Roger Bybee in a stunningly raw look at the stripping of this nation's productive wealth.

Not only are they accelerating the pace of outsourcing to low-wage nations like China, but there have been several recent instances of corporations closing profitable plants in the United States and then refusing to sell them to other companies interested in keeping the plants open and retaining the current workforce.

We can sit by and say the world is flat and our happy global interconnectedness means we buy into the status quo. Or we can take steps to say we support U.S. workers and U.S. jobs because it's not just their paychecks at stake. It's our future. I hope you'll join me in taking the American Auto Revivial Pledge.

This is a crosspost from Firedoglake.