Big factories can be retrofitted in times of world war to build tanks/guns/etc. It's seen as a national security thing.
Why Are Politicians So Obsessed with Manufacturing?
11–20 of 265 posts
Re: Why Are Politicians So Obsessed with Manufacturing?
#12Manufacturing has a history of high growth and employment. Services do not. Economically, service domination means an overall slow-growth economy. Even highly intellectual services do not come close to the historic growth / employment curve the nation enjoyed when it was dominated by manufacturing. Wealth distribution is also heavily-weighted toward to the top with services. Generally democracies fare better when wealth is more broadly-held.
Re: Why Are Politicians So Obsessed with Manufacturing?
#13The votes that can turn the tide in this election are those in the rust belt. Manufacturing is the key word that gets their attention. I believe that's why. All other reasons are secondary. It was about the financial crisis in 2008 and Bain Capital in 2012 which ended up affecting manufacturing jobs.
Re: Why Are Politicians So Obsessed with Manufacturing?
#14There is a lot more dignity of work in manufacturing. You're not servicing some old person who can afford to have a home health aid--you're making a product for people to buy (including other people like you).
Re: Why Are Politicians So Obsessed with Manufacturing?
#15I wasn't aware of these facts: -- [T]here can be no revival of American manufacturing, because there has been no collapse. Because of automation, there are far fewer jobs in factories. But the value of stuff made in America reached a record high in the first quarter of 2016, even after adjusting for inflation. -- [T]here were 64,000 steelworkers in America last year, and 820,000 home health aides.... Soon, we will be…
That was basically Mitt Romney's whole pitch.
Re: Why Are Politicians So Obsessed with Manufacturing?
#16Because this is the work people who didn't go to college or uni can do and make a "middle class income" with a little vocational training (no real maths needed).
Same as why the mittelstand is so important.
Re: Why Are Politicians So Obsessed with Manufacturing?
#17Because millions of people have been affected. This means votes. If you can promise some bullshit and they buy it, you got votes. Lots of them.
Contrary to popular belief, politicians only care about their own enrichment and careers. They couldn't give one iota about the needs of the people. They want votes. They'll say anything they have to say to get them. They'll do anything they have to do to get them. And one in office they'll do nothing for the people who voted for them. This is true world wide and it isn't any different in the US.
Re: Why Are Politicians So Obsessed with Manufacturing?
#18Manufacturing is a target because it's easy for people to see concrete results. They can point at something and say, "we made that", and it tends to generate some sense of pride. The same doesn't really apply for service industries or innovation in the service industries: "we produced consumer surplus by lowering transportation costs via automation" doesn't roll off the tongue as well. :) The same problem exists for…
Manufacturing also provides jobs for both high and low skill workers. As such can be seen as more valuable to a community than say, a software company that only hires engineers and a CS center in a different state. Manufacturing was one of the best roads for a low skill worker to earn good money and move up the rung economically - something that only seems to be getting harder as time goes on.
Re: Why Are Politicians So Obsessed with Manufacturing?
#19The memory is that these old factory/manufacturing jobs were high paying (middle class), secure, and accessible to people of low intellect, minimal education, and limited social grace.
The proposed replacements "caregivers, retail workers and customer-service representatives" are significantly lower wage and also require more "EQ" that the working man of the prior generation didn't need. The voters these politicians are addressing are working from a memory of a time when "men were men", that worked hard in a physical way to produce a physical product; in the memory, these working men didn't think and didn't emote, they produced.
Now, the voter says, men have been "feminized" by being forced out of a productive, provider role where a single income could support the family. Instead, they are placed into a role where they need to express concern, care, and use soft skills instead of physical strength.
And when they want the same pay and security they had before, they are instead told to "learn to code" (or learn whatever, get an education). Which is easy for a coastal educated person to say, but to a line of family men who have not just eschewed education but actively resisted it, this is a tough pill to swallow.
Re: Why Are Politicians So Obsessed with Manufacturing?
#20Manufacturing has a history of high growth and employment. Services do not. Economically, service domination means an overall slow-growth economy. Even highly intellectual services do not come close to the historic growth / employment curve the nation enjoyed when it was dominated by manufacturing. Wealth distribution is also heavily-weighted toward to the top with services. Generally democracies fare better when wea…
Not sure why this is being down-voted: it's pretty well established that service economies have limited potential to export or achieve economies of scale, and thus unable to benefit from expanding global trade.