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Brain -> Making Things in America (5/20/2011 8:17:59 PM)
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Republicans are irresponsible, incompetent have no business running the country or managing the economy. In a nutshell, Republicans are not qualified to lead politically. They ruined the economy because they were brainwashed by ideology and have done their darndest to prevent the present recovery because of ideology and politicking.
Making Things in America
By PAUL KRUGMAN
Published: May 19, 2011
Manufacturing is one of the bright spots of a generally disappointing recovery, and there are signs that a sustained comeback may be under way. And there’s something else you should know: If right-wing critics of efforts to rescue the economy had gotten their way, this comeback wouldn’t be happening. Crucially, the manufacturing trade deficit seems to be coming down. At this point, it’s only about half as large as a share of G.D.P. as it was at the peak of the housing bubble, and further improvements are in the pipeline. The Boston Consulting Group, which is now predicting a U.S. “manufacturing renaissance,” points to major U.S. firms like Caterpillar that once shifted production abroad but are now moving it back. At the same time, companies from other countries, especially European firms, are moving production to America.
America’s industrial heartland is now leading the economic recovery.
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Which brings me to those right-wing critics. First, what’s driving the turnaround in our manufacturing trade? The main answer is that the U.S. dollar has fallen against other currencies, helping give U.S.-based manufacturing a cost advantage. A weaker dollar, it turns out, was just what U.S. industry needed. Yet the Federal Reserve finds itself under intense pressure from the right to make the dollar stronger, not weaker. A few months ago, Paul Ryan, the chairman of the House Budget Committee, berated Ben Bernanke for failing to tighten monetary policy, declaring: “There is nothing more insidious that a country can do to its citizens than debase its currency.” If Mr. Bernanke had given in to that kind of pressure, manufacturing would have continued its relentless decline.
So while we still have a deeply troubled economy, one piece of good news is that Americans are, once again, starting to actually make things. And we’re doing that thanks, in large part, to the fact that the Fed and the Obama administration ignored very bad advice from right-wingers — ideologues who still, in the face of all the evidence, claim to know something about creating prosperity.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/20/opinion/20krugman.html?_r=1
Paul Krugman
[image]local://upfiles/392475/A6431A31B50844D5B41579F487E53DD4.jpg[/image]
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