by Digby | Nov 14, 2013 | Economy, Making it in America, Rick Perlstein, Trans-Pacific Partnership
Sometimes gridlock is just what the doctor ordered: Tea party Republicans insist they’re in favor of free trade. They just don’t want to place a key trade negotiating power in President Barack Obama’s hands. The deep suspicion of giving the president authority to...
by Dave Johnson | Nov 13, 2013 | Making it in America, Trans-Pacific Partnership
Giant corporations are trying to get Congress to give up its Constitutional obligation to consider and amend a trade treaty that requires our country to give up its sovereignty. Many organizations and legislators -- including many Republicans -- don't appear to be...
by Dave Johnson | Nov 8, 2013 | Making it in America
Today's jobs report shows a gain of 19,000 jobs in the manufacturing sector in October. This is big because for all of 2013 the U.S. has gained a total of 35,000 manufacturing jobs, so more than half of those were gained last month. See this chart at IndustryWeek for...
by Dave Johnson | Oct 28, 2013 | Making it in America
Did you think manufacturing was old-fashioned, dirty and low-skilled? Have you noticed how when you see a factory in a TV show it's an old, burnt-down building with broken windows? (And then the drug dealers drive in from one side, and the "good guys" from the other,...
by Dave Johnson | Oct 24, 2013 | Making it in America
The trade deficit figures for August were released this morning by the Census Bureau's Bureau of Economic Analysis. The Bureau reports that "total August exports of $189.2 billion and imports of $228.0 billion resulted in a goods and services deficit of $38.8 billion,...
by Terrance Heath | Oct 3, 2013 | Conservatism, Economy, Making it in America
Calling the GOP's antics childish is an insult to children. Their budget shenanigans surpass the worst childish behavior, and are far more damaging. The Republican-engineered government shutdown is doing real harm to real people, and endangering an already fragile...