Comments for America and the Global Economy

Comment on US College Degree Attainment Remains Stagnant as Other Countries Pull Ahead by richard

richard — Mon, 06 May 2013 19:13:27 +0000

I haven’t checked in here for some time since I thought it was getting boring, but the last few posts are great quality so I guess I’ll add you back to my daily bloglist. You deserve it my friend

Comment on Apple to start manufacturing in U.S. by Mark T. Zetter

Mark T. Zetter — Sun, 21 Apr 2013 19:35:06 +0000

Investing $100 million in manufacturing operations in the United States is a very small percent of total manufacturing currently offshored by Apple, and for good reason, US infrastructure cannot support all Apple manufacturing.

From: http://www.tuaw.com/2012/01/22/why-apples-products-are-designed-in-california-but-assembled/

“Why not? Why can’t iPhones, iPads, and all the rest of Apple’s magic gadgets be built in the States? More generally, why can’t more US-based consumer electronics and computer companies do their manufacturing work domestically, helping to create American jobs and boost the struggling economy?

The [New York Times]* asked that question, and after an extremely well-researched report involving interviews with both former and current executives at Apple, the answer the Times found is both simple and chilling: iPhones aren’t made in America because they just can’t be.”

See, here:*
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/22/business/apple-america-and-a-squeezed-middle-class.html

Additionally, moving Apple’s PC business to the US is smart since its production volumes are decreasing. The PC business is dying. This is the main reason Blackstone backed out of its discussions to purchase Dell, recently, in a WSJ article titled: “PC Slide Doomed a Blackstone-Dell Tie”, below:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323309604578433063194818472.html

(Dell went private so it could set strategy and restructure against a dying PC business, without the watchful eye of Wall Street)

Below are ways to consider reshoring and outsourcing (not offshoring) and, why both can work. (Knowing sometimes it just makes sense to offshore)

http://www.ventureoutsource.com/contract-manufacturing/benchmarks-best-practices/electronics-assembly/outsourcing-decisions-yes-or-no

Short link: ow.ly/jng8x

I’m happy to discuss in detail if there are questions. A lot of the reshoring initiatives and decisions behind such are being hyped for various reasons. Concern of manufacturing executives should be focused on gathering good information from all sides to help make more informed decisions. Reshoring is good, but it’s not always the best answer for longer term company planning.

Mark Zetter
President
VentureOutsoruce.com
http://ventureoutsource.com/mz

Comment on Guest Contributor William Krist with Dani Litovsky: LNG – to export or not to export, that is the question by moving companies Los Angeles

moving companies Los Angeles — Sun, 07 Apr 2013 05:38:56 +0000

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Comment on How Important is Government to Innovation? by vbardhi2

vbardhi2 — Wed, 27 Mar 2013 18:10:41 +0000

I think you have a great insight here. While the political rhetoric focuses on privatization, there is something left to be said about government involvement in innovation.

Comment on Guest Contributor William Krist: Exchange Rate Manipulation by Michael B. Smith

Michael B. Smith — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 21:21:46 +0000

Bill, I never understood a darn thing about exchange rates except the yen and the Swiss franc were always budget busters for a poor trade negotiator like me. That’s why I got my feet wet just protecting the American needle and thread trade which ignored any concerns about exchange and concentrated instead on good old pure protectionism. Hence, to recall the sobriquet given to me by Brother Blum, I was known of the Scourge of the Far East or the Scrooge of USTR and not always behind my back either,

Comment on NASCAR: Helping STEM Education Race Forward by Ann

Ann — Thu, 28 Feb 2013 18:59:01 +0000

NASCAR’s Ten80 program uses tenth scale radio controlled cars and kids own their own racing teams. It is in its fifth year as a national competition. Thanks for letting more people know about it. Write NASCAR and tell them how muh fun we are having learning science, technology, engineering and math with this program. Come to the finals in Charlotte on May 18th. It is part of the All Star celebration and a fun week-end!

Comment on Biofuels: Food, Fuel and the Future? by Paper.li

Paper.li — Wed, 27 Feb 2013 16:37:41 +0000

We stumbled over here from a different web
page and thought I may as well check things out. I like what I
see so now i am following you. Look forward to going over
your web page repeatedly.

Comment on Guest Contributor William Krist: Exchange Rate Manipulation by Charles Blum

Charles Blum — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 21:43:34 +0000

Bill, your comment is spot on. The world is playing with the fire of competitive devaluations just as it did in the 1930s. The previous round ended tragically. Why would anyone think this time will be different?

Comment on Guest Contributor William Krist: Exchange Rate Manipulation by Joanne Clark

Joanne Clark — Wed, 20 Feb 2013 21:30:21 +0000

Thanks for inclujding me, Bill. Hope you are well…

Comment on by PAGE

PAGE — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 21:01:14 +0000

As a point of clarification, the Bush Administration was not using faulty data and trying to rush through import clearance for cooked chicken from China. Risk assessments are lengthy affairs involving career government scientists and regulators. China and imports being politically charged topics, Congress initially intervened and withheld funding for the risk assessment. The subsequent restoration of the funding was not due to any WTO action but rather a change in party control of the U.S. House. While there are still no Chinese facilities approved for exporting product to the U.S., it should be noted that dubious sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) requirements have become the de facto choice for agrifood trade barriers ever since the Uruguay Round effectively limited the use of tariffs for such purposes. This is why the Obama Administration is currently seeking to add more reliable SPS procedures and related adjudication options into the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations.

-Gary Blumenthal