Harry E. Figgie Jr.

Does America Need Manufacturing? That is the provocative question being posed by the mainstream media, most recently by Jon Gertner in the New York Times.(1) Of course America needs manufacturing. In fact, America continues to rely on manufacturing more than most people know, and government policies should be supporting, not inhibiting its growth. One reason [...]

If there is a double-dip recession, economists predict that it will be less painful for the manufacturing sector than the first. From the article in the National Journal: *Manufacturing may not shed many jobs. Manufacturing is being pulled along by exports, and the big sources of foreign demand in Asia, Brazil, and a few other [...]

Weak manufacturing data compounded the markets’ anxiety over the debt ceiling deadline and sent stock prices lower. From the ABC News story: Today’s manufacturing report followed a weaker-than-expected gross domestic product figure last week. On Friday, the U.S. government said the economy expanded at a disappointing 1.3 percent annual rate in the second quarter after [...]

(Photo Credit: Center for American Progress Photo Stream) New York Times columnist Paul Krugman wrote today about the comeback of U.S. manufacturing. Krugman writes, Manufacturing is one of the bright spots of a generally disappointing recovery, and there are signs — preliminary, but hopeful, nonetheless — that a sustained comeback may be under way. And [...]

(Photo Credit: Nyoyn’s photostream) Forbes India has published an interview with Willy Shih. Shih co-authored a 2009 paper in the Harvard Business Review called, “Restoring American Competitiveness.” The authors argue that “innovation” cannot be separated from “manufacturing.” Here is a snippent from the interview: For any individual company, it is often better, in the short [...]

(Photo Credit: Pulpolux’s Photo Stream) MarketWatch reports that manufacturing is among the only bright spots in the U.S economic outlook. From the story: The one part of the economy that appears to have clear sailing is the manufacturing sector. New orders have been flowing in, especially from overseas, and companies are hiring. The manufacturing sector [...]

(Photo Credit: Kitty Schoen’s Photostream) A new report claims that improving the United States’ manufacturing position is necessary to ensure the country’s national security. From the Politicus USA story: Manufacturing has been in decline for many years in our country. The national GDP is more reliant on financial instruments that do not add anything of [...]

(Photo Credit: Steve Wilhelm’s Photostream) General Electric, the iconic American company, is investing $200 million in a new manufacturing facility in India. From the story in The Economic Times: US-based General Electric on Monday said it would invest about $200 million for setting up a infrastructure equipment manufacturing facility in India and would recruit over [...]

(Photo Credit: Paparutzi’s photostream) Bloomberg reports industrial production has risen for the third time in the last four months and continues to fuel the expansion of the U.S. economy. From the story: U.S. industrial production probably rose in February for a third month in the last four, indicating manufacturing remains a stalwart of the expansion, [...]

Ian Fletcher, writing at The Huffington Post, argues that rising manufacturing production does not mean that U.S. manufacturing is doing fine. Here is the crux of his argument: Critics of the decline thesis tacitly assert that the appropriate level is “more than yesterday,” so if our manufacturing output is going up, all seems to be [...]