Proud To Be An American

Proud It's Made In America

http://socialsecurity.ourfuture.org/

That was the general theme of the brilliant conference sponsored by Robert Borsage, Roger Hickey, the Institute for America's Future in partnership with the Alliance For American Manufacturing.

What a thoroughly impressive crowd of people thinking deeply about the future of the country. What an honor and a privilege to get to hear the speakers that came to the Washington Court Hotel to address the people trying to make a difference now and in the years to come. Big Thank You to all the organizers, especially Roger Hickey and Robert Borsage.

Imagine an America where we don't make anything, where wealth is just financial transactions on e-paper, where there are no factories in which we make anything to export. In such a scenario how would we fare fighting a war against a tyrant threatening the western world such as took place in WWII. If we had no steel industry how would we make tanks, how would we make helicopters to special order, how would we outfit our ships?
Lest you think this a ludicrous prospect, speakers at this event were there to remind us that there is a frightening trend taking over international trade- the China Cheat factor where subquality goods (even Steel) are flooding a market with stocked surpluses to under bid any US competitor and dump on our markets with subquality product. The Bay Bridge which has experienced collapses and fractures bid out its segmented steel to the Chinese who produced and shipped it cheaper than Pittsburgh could make it. Knowing what he knows, Ed Rendell, the Governor of Pennsylvania declared that he will never ride on the Bay Bridge.

Ed Rendell is someone who should be listened to intently when considering Industrial Policy. Let's start there. Consider an Intentional Industrial Policy and a Trade Policy that actually favors Americans and things Made in America. Pennsylvania has been at the forefront of finding other 'green' uses for closed steel plants revitalizing communities.
The story was echoed by a Senior Executive at Corning. Corning, famous for the Corningwear that your grandma made every casserole dish in, it has now been converted into a manufacturer of solar cells- a green innovation.

The issue of jobs in America, and not outsourcing overseas but keeping jobs in America helps keep industry in America and this directly translates into a National Security issue. When you rely on other countries for the components of your military needs you make yourself intolerably vulnerable. It's not just that we like to keep families fed in America (and what would be wrong with that) or towns fully functioning with a strong tax base (and what would be wrong with that)
or that the green revolution saves the planet (what's wrong with that) but that if we don't adopt a well conceived Industrial Policy and Trade Policy we will not be able to defend or protect ourselves much less our lifestyles.

Ed Rendell noted that T. Boone Pickens was crazy-like a fox. He believed in Natural Gas as a huge source of renewable clean energy that could help pave the way out of the woods of foreign fossil fuel dependence. We have coal in abundance in America- clean coal technology is something with carbon capture technologies that should be invested in.

All of this takes an intentional redirection of policy and assets to fund a program that will beat our competitors (the Chinese) to the commercialization of R&D that we develop. Strong Intellectual property law enforcement of Chinese cheaters has to happen at the ITC level which should have as a component Federal Enforcement, not just private enforcement that is somehow insulated from the coercive pressures beholden to Chinese market controls. This would require a restructuring of the ITC such that it should have something like the EEOC has, a Federal investigative component and Federal Prosecution component where the government is fighting for American Industry. It could be done somehow under the umbrella of Commerce. It needs to be rethought- because American Industry is not adequately protected from piracy and intellectual property theft.

The remarkable thing about the conference is that it was jointly hosted by the Alliance for American Manufacturing, which is an organization comprised of both management and labor in the Steel Industry that is being replicated in other industries. They both see the need to work together to serve everyone's common interests in making American Industry strong. I grew up with stories of Westinghouse in Pittsburgh hiring private security guards to guard my mother's house during labor negotiations because my grandfather was a Vice President and chief management labor negotiation attorney who was visited by "Union Goons." I also had a father who did a few summers working in the Pittsburgh "Mills"- So against the backdrop of this sort of historic management-labor hostility it is deeply refreshing that labor and management have created a productive mutually respectful Alliance to help rebuild an industry on the skids. "Will American Steel Survive" (paraphrased) was the theme of this year's Steel conference noted the CEO of US Steel. It is frightening that this is even a serious question.

The Conference sounded a Wake Up Call.
We have to get real about the sort of melt-down we are witnessing, and we have to now buckle down, put all our cards on the table, and figure out a way that we don't implode. The National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) has to work with the AFL-CIO, the "union goons" have to work with the Daddy Warbucks- because we are all Americans who love our country.

From concept to creation, we have to figure out how to fix this together.