In the early years of our nation, agriculture comprised 70% of our economy and the introduction of tractors and harvesting machinery made it possible to work the land with one tenth of the manpower previously employed.“Catastrophic unemployment!” warned the egghead pundits.
Within a few years all that “surplus labor” plus was prosperously employed in the industrial revolution which American hard work and ingenuity built.
“Catastrophic unemployment and chaotic decline of the economy!” warned the egghead pundits when shoemaking, textiles, shipbuilding and steelmaking succumbed to foreign competition in the wake of the post-WWII free trade policies.
A few years later the economy was booming with electronic, appliance, automobile, aviation, food processing and a score of other new industries driven by American hard work and ingenuity.
Catastrophic "hollowing of our manufacturing base" and "giant sucking sound" were some of the comments from the egghead pundits following the passage of the trade provisions of GATT and NAFTA.
Thanks to American enterprise, inventiveness and hard work, the initiation of new products and industries in the fields of pharmaceuticals, medical equipment, information technology and biotechnology has driven further expansion of our economy.
We have an 8 year unemployment rate that averages less than it was in the previous 8 years even as we absorbed over 10 million illegal immigrants. In 2007 we had the largest manufacturing economy in the world. Given the freedom to operate, entrepreneurial capitalism has built and maintained the greatest economy seen in the history of the world.
Obama threatens "Change" which would be truly catastrophic. He menaces higher taxes, income redistribution, punishment of success with "windfall profits taxes", the politics of class envy and the weakening of enterprise and self reliance attendant on his other socialistic theories.
These changes will seriously weaken America's ability to respond to the dynamic challenges that we have faced in the past and will continue to confront in the future.
On the local scene, responsiveness to change has many success stories all of which stand in stern contrast to Democrat Governor Jennifer Granholm's obstruction to adjustment in Michigan. Her failure to even grasp the principle of economic dynamism was exemplified last year by her championing the imposition on the State of an additional burden of a $1.5 billion tax increase.
Some contrasting examples are highlighted by Stephanie Fletcher of FORTUNE Small Business in her recently penned “Back from the Dead”. Excerpts are quoted here:
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The decline of major American industries such as steel, textiles, and tobacco threatened to turn these towns into economic wastelands. Instead, local officials sought out new industries, reinventing their towns as meccas for biotech, software development, and telecoms.
Bethlehem, Penn.
This former steel city is remodeling itself into a high-tech player. Manufacturing giant Bethlehem Steel, once one of the largest steel producers in the U.S., employed as many as 167,000 people in its heyday. By the mid-`80s that number had plummeted to 35,000 as the cost of doing business and competition from foreign producers took their toll. The company shut down its Bethlehem plant in 1995 and closed for good in 2003.
The town has since transitioned to a tech-based economy, nurtured by the presence of major hospitals and colleges. The state aggressively courts new businesses via programs like Ben Franklin Technology Partners, which helps start-ups find funding and qualified staff.
Meanwhile, the old Bethlehem Steel property is being converted into a luxury entertainment complex that will feature shopping, dining, a hotel and casino.
Worcester, Mass.
New England's second-largest city, Worcester was known in its previous economic incarnation as a manufacturing powerhouse, producing everything from textiles to machine parts.
Although the city has made an effort to preserve its manufacturing capabilities, it's best known now as a hub of biotechnology.The founding of the Massachusetts Biotechnology Research Park in 1985 by the city's development corporation and the presence of 15 area colleges and universities fostered this new industry; Worcester is now home to more than a hundred biotech companies.
The city strives to blend the green space and affordable housing options of a small town with the arts and culture of a big city: Worcester's well-known museums and libraries include the Higgins Armory Museum and the American Antiquarian Society.
Bend, Oregon
Ssituated among central Oregon's lush forests, lakes, rivers, and mountains, Bend's economy thrives on outdoor recreation.
Bend was once a logging town, but decades of unsustainable harvesting eventually depleted the timberland, driving the lumber companies out of business. Brooks-Scanlon, at one time a major employer, closed its doors in 1994.
Since then, the city has become a tourist town, although smaller mills continue to produce some wood products. Mt. Bachelor, a popular ski destination, is Bend's second-largest employer. Tourists and the rapidly growing local population also enjoy kayaking, hiking, fishing, and rock climbing.
Winston-Salem, N.C.
Faced with a declining tobacco market, Winston-Salem, made a deliberate effort to cultivate tech industries such as biotech and software development. RJ Reynolds, the country's second-largest tobacco company, is still headquartered in Winston-Salem, but it's no longer the city's leading employer: Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center now occupies that role.
In the early 1990s, the Chamber of Commerce's Technology Council spearheaded the foundation of Piedmont Triad Research Park to encourage the development of high-tech businesses, drawing on the well-educated labor pool generated by nearby colleges and universities.
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Detroit, Michigan
(These comments contributed by Charles Moran III of Livingston County, Mi):
Once the automobile capital of the world, this city drew population (once numbering 2.4 million strong) from throughout the United States and led the nation into prosperity.
With the decline in manufacturing occurring over the last 3 decades, Detroit was hard hit. Through the ingenuity of the Detroit Mayor, Kwame Kilpatrick (son of Congresswoman Carolyn Kilpatrick) and with the full support of his crony, Governor Granholm, it's former manufacturing glory was replaced with a new culture of nepotism, crime, poverty, law suits and other nefarious municipal activities.
Thanks to all this hard work, the task of stripping the city dry of any remaining positive attributes is now complete.
Welcome to new Detroit....
Detroit's Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick is out of jail, for now. The mayor is facing eight felony counts of perjury from an alleged cover-up of a sex scandal. He also is fighting felony assault charges for allegedly shoving two police officers a few weeks ago. Last month, he ran afoul of the law again, violating terms of his bail by traveling to Canada. He was released from jail on Friday only after he agreed to stay in the Detroit metro area and wear a GPS tracking device.
Michigan, with all its troubles and scandals, is quickly turning into a key battleground state in the presidential race -- a consideration that must be weighing heavily on Gov. Granholm as she gets ready to preside over a hearing -- requested by the Detroit city council -- on whether to remove the mayor.
(and these comments are from Brendan Miniter of the Wall Street Journal):
By any objective measure, Detroit is a failing city. The Census Bureau estimates that 33% of the city's population lives in poverty and its unemployment rate tops 14%.
A study by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation two years ago found that Detroit's high school graduation rate was the worst in the nation.
For that matter, Michigan itself has suffered one of the worst economies in the country under Gov. Granholm, thanks to high taxes and hemorrhaging jobs.
Nor was it helpful imagery when House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other leading Democrats conspicuously had to rescue the mayor's mother, Rep. Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick, head of the Congressional Black Caucus, who barely squeaked past two challengers with 39% of the vote in a Democratic primary last week.
The mayor's hearing is now set for Sept. 3 and was supposed to last only a single day, but legal maneuvering may drag it out. Mr. Kilpatrick wants immunity before he will consider testifying. All in all, the hearing could end up being an embarrassing advertisement on just what Democratic leadership has meant for Michigan.
John McCain -- now within three points of Barack Obama in the RealClearPolitics average of Michigan polls -- must be rubbing his hands.
Russell Spencer
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