Blue Mass Group

Reality-based commentary on politics.

Manufacturing an Illusion

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My Trump supporter friends tell me that he will bring manufacturing jobs back to the USA and that will make America Great Again, you know, like back when even in Framingham Massachusetts, there was a General Motors plant manufacturing cars!    Yeah, well, good luck with that.  Then again, I ought to be sympathetic to the poor guys.  I was equally fooled when Bill Clinton signed NAFTA  and so many manufacturing jobs went to Mexico.  Plants that I had once sold equipment to for my livelihood as a forklift salesman were now moving south of the border, but fear not, new high tech jobs in manufacturing would replace them and we’d all be better off.  Yeah, okay….ooops, that did not pan out either.

You see, the reality is that “manufacturing jobs” only paid well because the laborers were organized.  They acted collectively. They used that collective political power to help even the scales of economic justice.

“Manufacturing” has NOTHING to do with it.  Political power has EVERYTHING to do with it.

So Trump can bring millions and millions of manufacturing jobs back, but unless he and the Republicans are willing to give political power to the working class, well, we’ll have manufacturing jobs that pay $12 an hour.

And about those high tech manufacturing jobs?  Jobs manufacturing IPhones pay less than $2 an hour.    So much for high tech, and I have not even mentioned automation.

Manufacturing?  Gimme a break!  Donald J. Trump is allegedly worth billions.  Was he EVER in manufacturing?  Nope.  Mitt Romney has a car elevator in his garage.  Did he make his fortune in “manufacturing”?  Nope. And to be fair, Bill and Hillary Clinton went from “almost broke” to a worth of over $110 million and was that though “manufacturing”?  Not hardly!

Do “manufacturing” CEO’s make more than non-Manufacturing CEO’s?   Nope.

So what do we do?  As Democrats, do we keep supporting this illusion?  Yeah, maybe we had to when “Our Guy” was in the White House, but now it’s different.  We can speak out, point out, shout out the reality that “manufacturing jobs” is NOT the answer.  Pay equity, profit sharing, progressive taxation are all part of the solution.   Political power to the working class ALL of it, not limited to the illusion of manufacturing,  has got to be our focus.

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Comments

  1. to have Trump in the White House.))http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-01-23/labor-unions-pivot-praise-trumps-tpp-withdrawal-describe-meeting-president-incredibl

    • But I can’t see how Trump pulls it off, not with Republicans in charge of the legislature.

    • Wow.

      Trump has been active in union busting, so it’s interesting where that goes. As far as infrastructure improvements Obama had little success with the Republicans to make that investment outside of the stimulus, it should have been done 8 years ago. Those jackasses screwed the country. So if anything, given that Trump is an R how with they respond?

      I still think they are going to tell him to screw.

  3. Dawn Stastick, who works in the warehouse, said she voted no on the revised contract because the increase in wages was more than offset by a boost in medical insurance costs. And “I couldn’t in good conscience vote to bring the next generation of workers in here at $12 an hour. That’s not a living wage. Those people will need assistance from the state to get by,” she said.

    Stastick also mentioned concern for approving a $12-an-hour wage following Kentucky’s enactment of right-to-work legislation, which allows workers can opt in or reject joining a union. She predicted that the new workers will decide that with their meager paychecks, they can’t afford the union dues anyway.

    • I keep thinking we’re on the edge, and then we go further. Pretty soon a whole lot of people are going to have nothing to lose, and that’s when they become unstoppable, out of control, and dangerous to anyone with wealth.

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