This weekend I went to the San Mateo (CA) County Fair. My wife’s dance troupe (pic here) and students were performing. (They were on a stage next to and immediately before the pig races, near the funnel cake stand.) I got there early and before they started I walked around the vendor hall, past the jewelry and massage and food processor and insurance booths, and in one section there was a Make It In America exhibit, put on by Congresswoman Jackie Speier.
The exhibit was surrounded by hanging American flang and included a number of local companies that manufacture in America, especially locally. The main attraction at the Make It In America exhibition was a Chevy Volt.
Just a few of the companies exhibiting included:
"Buying American-made products creates American jobs and a better future for our children." - Rep. Jackie Speier.
The Democrats' Make It In America Plan
A few months ago in the post Democrats' Plan Makes Jobs In America, I wrote about the Democrats in Congress and their Make It In America plan -- a set of specific, detailed, targeted bills that clearly create jobs and restore our economic competitiveness, beginning with a national strategy for manufacturing.
Some of the Make It In America bills are:
There are clean energy manufacturing, energy efficiency and alternative energy bills, as well.
"Buy American" Op-Ed
Last week Rep. Speier introduced the exhibit with a "Buy American" op-ed in the local Silicon Valley paper, Opinion: To encourage U.S. industry, buy Made in America
When ABC News asked a Texas family to empty their living room, kitchen and master bedroom of all imported products, they were left with the kitchen sink and a vase. These empty rooms symbolize a manufacturing sector that has become a shadow of itself. Despite a modest resurgence over the past two years, manufacturing is still in deep decline. The number of Americans involved in producing goods is near its lowest point since World War II.
The key to a sustainable economic recovery is to make things in America once again. Or, as President Barack Obama said in December, "We want to create and sell products all over the world that are stamped with three simple words: 'Made in America.' That's our goal."
The manufacturing jobs we've lost provided solid, middle-class livings. Average total compensation is about $63,000 for nonmanufacturing jobs, but nearly $74,000 for manufacturing jobs, a difference of more than 17 percent. Manufacturing still accounts for 11 percent of GDP and is valued at $1.6 trillion. Eighteen million Americans and 1.28 million Californians are employed in this sector.
And, again, Frank Sobotka explains what's wrong: