BEIJING, May 18 (Reuters) - The first Airbus plane built outside Europe made a successful four-hour maiden flight on Monday in China, European consortium EADS said. Airbus began assembling some A320 jets in Tianjin near Beijing in September from fuselage parts shipped from Europe, increasing its presence in the world's fastest growing markets for large aircraft.
"This A320 assembled in China unquestionably demonstrated the same quality and performance as those assembled and delivered in Hamburg or Toulouse," Fernando Alonso, senior vice president at Airbus, said in a statement.
Airbus aims to reach output of four A320s a month in China by the end of 2011. Airbus has estimated that China would need more than 3,000 large aircraft between 2006 and 2025, including 180 super jumbo passenger planes.
The first aircraft will be delivered to Dragon Aviation Leasing in June and be operated by China's Sichuan Airlines.
Chinese firms have ordered more than 700 aircraft from Airbus, the majority of which are from the A320 family of planes, it said.
Airbus and U.S. rival Boeing (BA.N) have been turning to Asian markets, led by China, for growth as demand weakens at home.
But Airbus faces criticism from European unions who say the move adds to outsourcing fears amid the recession and could result in the loss of European technology to a potential jet-making rival.
Beijing may need an estimated $30 billion to realise an ambitious goal to manufacture passenger jets with more than 150 seats and freighters capable of handling more than 100 tonnes of cargo to take on Boeing and Airbus by 2014.
Click cartoon to read op/ed regarding how to fix trade deficit with China
Attention patriotic Americans. Please send letters to Congressman John Yarmuth (D-KY) letting him know that you support a "NON-BINDING RESOLUTION" encouraging Americans to buy MADE IN USA products. In addition, please mention that this is NOT a call for tariffs; simply, an encouraging message for Americans to buy MADE IN USA products.
Please click the following link to send a message to Congressman John Yarmuth:
A non-binding resolution is a written motion adopted by a deliberative body that cannot progress into a law. The substance of the resolution can be anything that can normally be proposed as a motion. This type of resolution is often used to express the body's approval or disapproval of something which they cannot otherwise vote on,due to the matter being handled by another jurisdiction , or being protected by a constitution. An example would be a resolution of support for a nation's troops in battle, which carries no legal weight, but is adopted for moral support.
To buy MADE IN USA products please visit the latest link added to the "I Only Buy American" website:
www.madeinusa.org - this site has it all or can tell you where to find it!
John F. Kennedy had it right almost 50 years ago when he told Americans, "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country!"
We have forgotten this rallying cry and have gotten lazy; causing this current mess we are now so desperate to fix. We became dependent on our government for everything and now we all want to be "bailed out."
This won’t work! It will only postpone the inevitable, unless we ALL decide to roll up our sleeves and work our way out of it.
We need to bring work and jobs back into this country so that we have people/consumers with money that can buy our products. Sending all of our manufacturing jobs to foreign countries took our best-paying jobs with them, leaving too few consumers behind with jobs to buy our goods.
I know it is easy to blame big business for sending these jobs to foreign countries, but the American buying public is just as much to blame. We buy cheap, without any care for where or how an item is made.
How can you blame big business for trying to make cheaper products when that is what we are demanding? Granted, big business took the easy way out and sent the work over rather then finding better/leaner ways to operate, but then again, many of the unions fought this progress, cutting their own throats.
Big business had it half right in the 1980s when they marketed "Buy American." It should have included "Build American," because in the 1990s they started buying many of their manufactured goods form foreign counties or even opened American companies overseas or in Mexico.
Take Wal-Mart, for example. When Sam Walton started the company, he proudly marketed "Buy American." Now, you would be hard-pressed to find American-made products in his stores.
Better example, look what buying foreign goods has gotten us. Poisoned pet food and toothpaste, as well as toys with lead paint with little or no safety standards. Child labor abuse has skyrocketed worldwide and world pollution levels have increased due to the non-regulation or non-enforcement of pollution laws in the countries that build these products. Worker safety and care are also non-existent in many of these countries, as well.
Sending jobs to foreign countries to lower our costs does not and did not work. It did not work in our free market system because it eliminated the buying power (jobs) of the people who make up our market, our consumers.
It IS that simple.
All businesses outsource work, either to lower costs because someone else has a better way of making the product or because they need to increase their capacity. My brothers and I do this in our three companies (but only with American companies). However, now that times are tough and sales are down, we have brought many of these jobs back into our shops to better utilize our people and assets.
We are working harder, smarter and for less money just to survive these tough times. We know we need to take care of our own first. We also buy all of our equipment from American companies, even all of our company and personal cars are American-made. We, as a country, need to pull the outsourced work back into this country. We don't need cash bail outs, we need work.
Building roads and schools is good, but stimulus payments back to the American people are only a Band Aid. We need jobs, and to get jobs, we need to bring the work back.
Create incentives to buy American. Eliminate all the pet projects of our congressmen and women from the stimulus bill and work on helping to bring work back into this country. Hard work built this country, and hard work will save it!
As Americans we need to take back our country and have pride and loyalty in being the best country in the world. Stop blaming the other side and start doing what you can for your country. We don't need to wait for the stimulus. We can start today by “Buying American - Building American - Being American!" This goes for every American citizen, whether you are buying for your company or your family!
Jaime Maliszewski is president of RPW Inc., Elite Finishing LLC and Brilliance LLC in Milwaukee.
Trade Deficit Significant Cause of Recession
By Peter Morici Mar 1, 2009
The U.S. 2008 deficit on international trade in goods and services was $677.1 billion, down from $700.3 billion in 2007 but still 4.7 percent of GDP. The trade deficit was smaller in 2008 because economic growth and consumer spending began to decline during the second half of 2008.
Trade deficits and shoddy banking practices pushed the economy into recession, and until both trade and the banks are fixed, sustained economic growth cannot be accomplished. The trade deficit will rise again as the effects of the stimulus package are felt, but if its underlying causes are not addressed, the trade deficit will drag the economy back down into a double dip recession.
Pushed up by the surge in oil prices and the ballooning trade gap with China, the trade deficit is reducing U.S. GDP by $400 billion, annually, and significantly adding to the pain imposed by the unfolding recession. The negative effects of the trade deficit on GDP and employment overwhelm the potential positive effects of President Obama’s proposed stimulus spending.
Anatomy of the Hemorrhaging Current Account
In 2008, the United States had a $144.1 billion surplus on trade in services. This was hardly enough to offset the massive $821.2-billion deficit on trade in goods.
The deficit on petroleum products was $386.3 billion, up from $293.2 billion in 2007. The average price for imported crude oil rose to $95.23 in 2008 from $64.28 in 2007, while the volume of petroleum imports fell 4.0 percent.
Also, the American appetite for inexpensive imported consumer goods and cars is a huge factor driving up the trade deficit. The trade deficit with China was $266.3 billion, a new record, and up from $256.2 billion in 2007.
The deficit on motor vehicle products was $107.1 billion. Ford and GM continue to push their procurement offshore and cede market share to Japanese and Korean companies. However, the automotive trade deficit was down from $120.9 billion as Asian automakers continued to expand production in North America and demand for autos fell with the recession.
The trade deficit should ease in 2009 with lower oil prices and as the recession bears down on consumer spending. However, China is not permitting its currency to rise in value, despite its trade surplus, and has beefed up subsidies on its exports in an effort to export its unemployment to the United States and other industrialized countries. China’s beggar-thy-neighbor protectionism threatens to ignite a global trade war of devastating proportions.
In 2010, as stimulus spending in the United States and elsewhere lifts economic activity, oil prices will surge and China’s exports will rise above 2008 levels, thanks to an undervalued currency and larger export subsidies. That will push the trade deficit beyond its peak of 5.1 percent of GDP, and this may well pull the U.S. economy back into recession.
Dollars spent on imported oil and cars and consumer goods from China cannot be spent on U.S. goods and services, and every dollar that U.S. imports exceed exports negates at least one dollar of federal stimulus spending. Overall, the trade deficit overwhelms the positive effects of the Obama stimulus package on demand for U.S. goods and services, GDP and employment. Along with the banking crisis, the trade deficit is a primary cause of the U.S. recession.
The dollar remains at least 40 to 50 percent overvalued against the Chinese yuan and other Asian currencies. Although China adjusted the yuan from 8.28 per dollar to 8.11 in July 2005 and permitted it to rise gradually to 6.84 by July 2008, the value of the yuan has not changed since.
To sustain an undervalued currency in 2008, China purchased approximately $600 billion in U.S. and other foreign securities, creating a 40% subsidy on its exports of goods and services. Other Asian governments align their currency policies with China to avoid losing competitiveness to Chinese products in lucrative U.S. and EU markets.
Consequences for Economic Growth
High and rising trade deficits tax economic growth. Specifically, each dollar spent on imports that is not matched by a dollar of exports reduces domestic demand and employment and shifts workers into activities where productivity is lower.
Productivity is at least 50 percent higher in industries that export and compete with imports, and reducing the trade deficit and moving workers into trade-competing industries would increase GDP.
Were the trade deficit cut in half, GDP would increase by at least $400 billion, or about $2750 for every working American. Workers’ wages would not be lagging inflation, and ordinary working Americans would more easily find jobs paying higher wages and offering decent benefits.
Manufacturers are particularly hard hit by this subsidized competition. Through the recent economic expansion and recession, the manufacturing sector has lost 4.6 million jobs since 2000. Following the patterns of past economic expansions, the manufacturing sector should have kept at least 2 million of those jobs, especially given the very strong productivity growth accomplished in durable goods and throughout manufacturing.
Longer term, persistent U.S. trade deficits are a substantial drag on growth. U.S. import-competing and export industries spend three times the national average on industrial R&D, and encourage more investments in skills and education than other sectors of the economy. By shifting employment away from trade-competing industries, the trade deficit reduces U.S. investments in new methods and products, and skilled labor.
Cutting the trade deficit in half would boost U.S. GDP growth by 1 percentage point a year, and the trade deficits of the past two decades have reduced U.S. growth by 1 percentage point a year. Lost growth is cumulative. Thanks to the record trade deficits accumulated over the past 20 years, the U.S. economy is about $3 trillion smaller. This comes to about $20,000 per worker.
Had Washington acted responsibly to reduce the deficit, American workers would be much better off, tax revenues would be much larger, and the federal deficit would be much smaller. The recession would be much less severe.
If the Obama administration relies on stimulus and bank reform alone, the economy will fall back into recession once the spending has run its course. A pattern of false recoveries, much as occurred during the Great Depression, will likely emerge. Conditions will not be as bad, but unemployment will stay at unacceptable levels.
Peter Morici is a professor at the University of Maryland School of Business and former Chief Economist at the U.S. International Trade Commission.
As debate on the stimulus package continues to rage, exactly the wrong sort of attention is being paid to one element of the proposal dealing with the “Buy American” clause. The usual list of suspects is lining up to tell us exactly how awful this is, including this New York Times piece by Gregory Mankiw. As usual, he invokes the ghost of Smoot-Hawley to frighten the unpatriotic peasants and also takes time out to instruct us on the virtues of so called “free trade.”
Like many economists, I cringe whenever I hear the term “fair trade.” It is not that I am against fairness — who is? — but the word “fair” is so amorphous in this context as to defy definition. Most often, the slogan “fair trade” is little more than a rallying cry for protectionism.
Protectionism! Hide the womenfolk and cover the children’s ears! Clearly, arguing for fair trade must be some sort of code talk for communism, if not satanism. We are constantly lectured about how all of this free trade will open up foreign markets for our goods, lower prices and encourage competition. This is looking more and more like a situation where if you repeat something often enough, no matter how much the facts may scream against you, it becomes accepted as truth. But I would ask Mr. Mankiw to take just a moment and examine the US Census Bureau’s numbers on exactly how well this free trade has worked out for us through the era of Clinton and George W. Bush while it’s been in effect. And oh, by the way, we now have a roughly 700 billion dollar Free Trade Deficit. But let us look at some of the specifics. (All figures adjusted for inflation.)
Let’s start with the real elephant in the room, China. This is a country which, as Steven Capozzola, spokesman for the American Alliance for Manufacturing, said “has violated trade laws through subsidizing domestic industries, manipulating its currency, lacks strict environmental laws and has shipped defective goods to the United States.” And how is our Free Trade Balance with China trending in Free Trade Era? In 1990 we had a $10.4 Billion trade deficit with them. In 2008 it was $256.2 Billion. These aren’t my numbers, folks. They are from our own Census Bureau. How’s that free trade working out for ya?
How about India? Our free trade policies have consistently resulted in American high tech companies laying of tens of thousands of our best, high paying, high tech workers and shipping those jobs to India faster than they can train workers to fill them. But how is India doing on the raw trade numbers? In 1990 our trade deficit to India was 710 million. In 2008? Try $6.3 Billion. How’s that free trade working out for ya?
Let’s move closer to home and visit Mexico, one of our “free trading” partners in NAFTA. Everybody loves NAFTA, right? So what about that Free Trade Deficit south of the border? In 1990 it was a $1.8 Billion deficit. In 2008? Enjoy your $60.2 Billion deficit. How’s that free trade working out for ya?
For an example of real irony, let us take a quick look at Columbia. The calls are still going out far and wide about how we need an agreement with Columbia similar to NAFTA. What does the big trade deficit board have to say on the subject? In 1990 our deficit with Columbia was $1.1 Billion. In 2008 it was $1.6 Billion and, in fact, that’s actually down from the $2.5 Billion deficit we had with them in 2006! But oh my gosh, by all means let’s rush into a NAFTA type agreement with Columbia. We’re falling behind in our race to massive trade deficits there! We should be losing at least 50 billion per year to them by now!
So what of this talk regarding buying American iron, steel and other materials with U.S. tax dollars for stimulus projects? We are told by breathless “Free Trade” enthusiasts that this will “upset the French” and spawn a new trade war! (One wonders where their heartfelt concern for the French was during the whole “Freedom Fries” debacle.) As Capozzola further points out, “The European Union and China, for example, have said they will use multibillion dollar stimulus packages to buy products made in their countries.” They’re going to keep doing the same thing to us that they’ve already been doing since we fell for this in the 90’s, and we’re the ones being bent over the barrel here.
We hear the same hysterics about how we can’t possibly do it. It might be illegal! (George Will actually tried that one this morning on ABC’s chat festival and was promptly kicked to the Curb.) We already have similar clauses in U.S. government and military procurement rules. And with some new thinking, we don’t need any sort of sweeping mandates and blanket tariffs as we did with Smoot-Hawley. We could easily offer “incentives” for companies working on job creating, stimulus package projects. You’re free to buy your steel wherever you like, but if you buy from an American company, we’ll kick in another ten million or so from the tax dollars. Such proposals are easily within reach if we have the will to do it, and we’ll only be doing what the Europeans and Asians are already doing anyway.
It’s high time to stop treating “protectionism” like a dirty word when you’re talking about protecting American jobs and industry. Look at the real trade deficit numbers above. Look at the real numbers of Americans not just unemployed (rising by the week) but underemployed (the downsized worker from Sun Microsystems whose job went to India and is now working at Starbucks) and also those who have simply given up looking for work. Protectionism? Damned straight, Skippy. And high time for it, too.
Asia: The coming fury - By Walden Bello To survive, transnational firms had no choice but to transfer their labor-intensive operations to China to take advantage of what came to be known as the "China price", provoking in the process a tremendous crisis in the labor forces of advanced capitalist countries. Click here for this must read op/ed: http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Asian_Economy/KB11Dk01.html
A stimulating idea:
Give every American taxpayer a $1000.00 voucher good towards any MADE IN USA product.
Please share this idea with your local congressman.
Though you never would know it from recent reporting, for 40 years the Detroit companies have been systematically undermined by foreign competitors' predatory pricing in the U.S. market. Click here to read full op/ed by Eamon Fingleton:http://www.freep.com/article/20081222/OPINION02/812220305
Simply, money spent on Middle East oil, Chinese televisions and coffee markers, Japanese and Korean cars can’t be spent on U.S. made goods and services, unless offset by a comparable amount of exports. Since U.S. imports exceed exports by 3.4 percent of GDP, the trade deficit creates an enormous drag on demand for U.S.-made goods and services. Click this link to read full op/ed by Peter Morici: http://seekingalpha.com/article/114568-u-s-records-huge-trade-deficit
Unfortunately, during the Great Depression we had the capacity to innovate, manufacture and otherwise create wealth that could drag us out of the hole we were in. Today, we no longer have that capability. We have forfeited that ability through disastrous trade policies that have shipped the majority of America’s manufacturing prowess across the border and overseas. Without the capability to manufacture and create wealth, the U.S. will never truly recover.
Today we are maintaining our living standards only with imports & through the good graces of our creditors who loan us money. How can our creditors have faith in our credit worthiness when we can only pay them if we can borrow money from someone else to pay them. Full complete op/ed click here: http://www.opednews.com/articles/America-Has-No-Means-to-Re-by-Dustin-Ensinger-081208-723.html
More Currency Conflict ahead for U.S. and China. Click here:
Lamborn adopts car dealer's call to buy American. Rep. Doug Lamborn is proposing giving consumers incentives to buy American instead of giving Detroit's Big Three automakers a bailout to stave off bankruptcy. Click this link to read full story: http://www.gazette.com/articles/american_43878___article.html/lamborn_bill.html
Buy American! Over the course of this year, China's government will find itself with more than $300 billion in new foreign-currency reserves, mostly dollars, that it will have to park somewhere - if China and the gulf states prove to be savvy investors--the U.S. will effectively be sending big checks abroad each year to pay for good times past. Click here to read full story: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1625188,00.html Big Shoes to Fill in Advanced Manufacturing When ?Boomers? Begin Retiring http://www.kamanufacturers.com/notes.htm Retooled U.S. manufacturing quietly rises to China challenge. Click her to read story: http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/oped/bal-op.manufacturing05mar05,0,4566029.story
Study: Trade deficit with China costs Florida 100,000 jobs
The United States' massive trade deficit with China cost Florida about 100,900 jobs between 2000 and 2007, with 17,000 lost last year, according to a new study.
The imbalance in trade between the two countries also suppressed workers' wages by about $8,150 per worker, and $19.4 billion overall, according to the study by the Economic Policy Institute, a nonprofit think tank devoted to researching impacts of economic trends and policies.
"All manufacturing is facing a critical challenge, as we know, but what may surprise people is how hard workers in advanced technology are being affected," said Scott Paul, Alliance for American Manufacturing executive director. "As China diversifies its export base -- and it's already expanding its electronic products, aircraft, auto parts and machinery -- more American produces will be unfairly disadvantaged."
Please check out this latest link added to the website! Based in San Clemente CA, Made in USA Forever.com was founded by Todd Lipscomb. To see recent interview with Todd on YOUR MORNING please click the following link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OZv9FeVQwOI
That's BILLION with a B - wake up America!
Countries Contributing the Most to U.S. Trade Deficit
The list below shows America’s deficit amounts for its top 15 trading partners.
China … US$259.1 billion (up 11.4% from 2006, up 59.9% from 2004)
Japan … $83.1 billion (down 6.1%, up 10.5%)
Mexico … $74 billion (up 15.4%, up 64.4%)
Canada … $65 billion (down 10.7%, down 1%)
Germany … $44.5 billion (down 6.9%, down 2.8%)
Nigeria … $28.9 billion (up 12.5%, up 97.3%)
Venezuela … $28.4 billion (up 0.6%, up 40.4%)
Saudi Arabia … $24.5 billion (up 1.8%, up 57.3%)
Ireland … $21.6 billion (up 7.5%, up 12.5%)
Italy … $20.9 billion (up 3.7%, up 20.4%)
Malaysia … $20.8 billion (down 13.2%, up 20.4%)
France … $14.5 billion (up 12.5%, down 36.9%)
South Korea … $13.6 billion (up 2.5%, down 31.5%)
Taiwan … $12.7 billion (down 16.7%, down 1.9%)
United Kingdom … $6.7 billion (down 16.8%, down 36%).
Top Chinese exports to America are computers, accessories, parts and miscellaneous household goods. Japan’s leading exports to the U.S. are passenger cars.
Fastest Increasing Deficits
Below are the nine countries that grew the American deficit the fastest last year.
Mexico … US $74 billion (up 15.4% from 2006, up 64.4% from 2004)
Nigeria … $28.9 billion (up 12.5%, up 97.3%)
France … $14.5 billion (up 12.5%, down 36.9%)
China … $259.1 billion (up 11.4%, up 59.9%)
Ireland … $21.6 billion (up 7.5%, up 12.5%)
Italy … $20.9 billion (up 3.7%, 20.4%)
South Korea … $13.6 billion (up 2.5%, down 31.5%)
Saudi Arabia … $24.5 billion (up 1.8%, up 57.3%)
Venezuela … $28.4 billion (up 0.6%, up 40.4%),
Top Mexican exports to America are crude oil and automotive parts. Nigeria’s exports to the U.S. are principally oil and gas products.
Attention FTC: This is what American consumers should see when shopping for refrigerators, dishwashers, automobiles and all durable goods sold in America:
MADE IN CHINA
MADE IN USA
The flag of the country of origin should be on the face of every durable good sold in America!
A 2" sticker of these flags within eye view on durable goods sold in America could make a BIG difference in the buying habits of American consumers. This would protect manufacturing jobs in America and begin to reverse our devastating trade deficit.
Please urge your politicians, talk show host, union leadership, and local media to discuss this proposal.
Print, television, and radio advertising for all durable goods sold in the United States should require full disclosure about where the product is assembled and the percentage of U.S. content.
To find American made products click on these links:
As debate on the stimulus package continues to rage, exactly the wrong sort of attention is being paid to one element of the proposal dealing with the “Buy American” clause. The usual list of suspects is lining up to tell us exactly how awful this is, including 
