Conservative Treehouse: Yesterday President Trump invited the media to keep their cameras on during a round-table discussion on trade. He did this for a reason. President Trump wanted the American voters to watch Republican politicians demand that he stop trying to bring manufacturing jobs to the United States.
In essence, Trump doing what Trump does best, played the role of Toto and pulled back the curtain on the Republican anti-American corporate business agenda. The republicans in attendance never paused to reflect upon the sunlight or the reason for their specific invitations. They are comfortable back-room deals and POTUS Toto relaxed them perfectly.
One by one the Republicans took-the-bait and fully exposed themselves. Lamar Alexander, Mike Lee, Pat Toomey and Roy Blout all took turns telling POTUS to quit trying to save American high-wage jobs, drop the national economic view and just accept multinational corporate globalism.
The subsequent full-throated establishment display stands as one of the greatest plays of the Trump administration to date. However, it was Republican Senator Ron Johnson from Wisconsin who really went the full distance:
[Transcript] […] In Wisconsin, a big manufacturing state, in seven years I have not visited one manufacturer that could hire enough people. That was certainly my experience in the last 20, 25 years. For a host of reasons, we tell our kids you have to get a four-year degree. We pay people not to work. So we do need to be concerned about, in such a tight labor market, do we have enough workers in manufacturing.
So my final point is, it makes no sense for me to try and bring back high labor-content manufacturing to America. We need to do the value added things. And so I would just say, proceed with real caution there. (more)
“We pay people not to work.” That right there.
Clearly, these people are the enemy of America.
Multinational corporate globalism is inherently bad and makes America weak.
Does old man Johnson understand that manufacturing isn’t just labor jobs? Does he think 1000 people show up in a building to pound out metal shapes and somehow, miraculously, the building does its own payroll, A/R, billing, HR,Sales,Mail room, Compliance, and Custodial work? What a fucking ‘tard.
‘Going to college’ is NOT an occupation.
I would love it if we made textiles again. The shit I see now from China and where ever, is crap.
I was reading the transcript and I stopped when I heard someone screaming and swearing, and then I realized it was me. lol.
Besides being paid not to work he was right about telling the kids they have to get a 4 year degree. Utter bullshit and only benefits the University Diploma mills out there that include (to a point) Harvard, Yale, UCLA etc etc. If American business is having a problem finding labour then chop welfare or make it a far less desirable career and slash funding to Universities and make student loans available only after academic ability testing and approval of course study. We don’t need more lawyers.
wonder which foreign donor pays this scumbag
Paying deadbeats to not work, then campaigning to give them more so they can continue to not work is a big part of out problem. Trump is a master politician, and this is his first try.
Most of us here recognize that Pres Trump is a Master of Finesse; I for one had no idea how GREAT he was going to be. (Correction from the original article, though. Rush would NEVER dodge ANYTHING because of financial interest–he boldly hammers Rs almost as often as he decimates Ds.)
MJA please don’t confuse me with Ron “ on the take “ Johnson. No relation either. Thanks.
LOL ^ Noted.
How about the government stop trying to ‘make’ capitalism work and get the hell out of the way so profit-minded businessmen can make it work.
Reprehensible.
No need for manufacturing in the swamp.
I work in manufacturing and I can say from the front lines that they’re right. Manufacturing jobs generally involve operating fairly complex machinery and employers are having a helluva time finding skilled labor to operate the equipment. As a result, equipment manufacturers are increasingly moving towards fully automated systems. So even if Trump succeeds in bringing the manufacturing of products back to the US, there may not be many jobs coming back.
That guys a lying sack of shit. We have two vendors in Wisconsin that supply us with Military Fasteners/Springs/Hardware. Manufacturing has been dead on it’s butt in Wisconsin, the same as the rest of the Nation, for the last 8 years. Thanks Obama.
I work in manufacturing (heavy duty automatic transmissions). I can tell you from first hand experience that the talent pool out there is very shallow in terms of who comes in the door as a new-hire. Morpheus is right about automation. We’ve taken the skill out of the hands of the humans and put it in the control software. All the operators have to do (ideally) is load, unload, do tooling changes and quality checks. About 1 in 50 (generous estimate) actually shows an interest and wants to learn all there is to know. The rest just want to put in their time and go home. And they bitch about having to work Saturdays for time and a half.
I’m not saying it’s hopeless, but we need to figure out a way to instill a work ethic in our youth and somehow make make manual labor more attractive. You’d think good pay would do it, but you’d be wrong.
This is presented out of context. Johnson is right, the high LABOR manufacturing has been replaced with high SKILLED manufacturing. The article claims it’s high WAGE manufacturing. When Johnson says “For a host of reasons, we tell our kids you have to get a four-year degree. We pay people not to work.”, he’s pointing out the problem. He was a manufacturer in WI before he ran for the Senate. He’d know.
“In Wisconsin, a big manufacturing state, in seven years I have not visited one manufacturer that could hire enough people.”
Senator Knobs Johnsons doesn’t know small companies employ more people than large corporations?
What a dumbass.
“Oh, Magoo, you’ve done it again!” Way to go Trump.
high labor == low wage
high skill == high wage
Competing for the former means mass importation of third world workers.
This is infuriating. What gives these people the idea they are smart enough to steer the economy one way or the other? Just clear the damn road blocks, make China play fair, and get out of the way. DJT’s got the plan.
@Left Coast Dan February 14, 2018 at 11:52 am
> How about the government stop trying to ‘make’ capitalism work
How about government stop trying to make regulation work?
How about government stop trying to make legislation work?
How about government stop trying to make taxation work?
When it only exists because they made the story up, it only works while they keep the story up.
@Anonymous February 14, 2018 at 12:22 pm
> You’d think good pay would do it, but you’d be wrong.
US$220,000 — plus chartered air transit, plus five star lodging, plus per diems for the employee’s servants — has never left a day shift unfilled. Unless by “good” you mean “more than you’d like to offer”.
Drug tests eliminate much of the work force but there are people who want/need to work. Ron Johnson is being paid off I am sure.
“‘Going to college’ is NOT an occupation.”
Hell MJ, in a lot of cases it’s not even an education, it’s indoctrination.
End welfare and see how many of those low paying jobs go wanting.
I’m not The International Chamber of Commerce
@JustAl February 14, 2018 at 1:07 pm
> End welfare and see how many of those low paying jobs go wanting.
But I wholeheartedly agree!
(End government mandated existence payments, while continuing government mandated existence charges, and you guaran-damn-tee catastrophic wage collapse.)
“It makes no sense to try and retain idiot/wrongheaded corrupt Senators.”
That was the appropriate statement to make.
There wouldn’t be “jobs Americans won’t do” if we weren’t paying people not to work.
At one time we used to tar and feather people like him.