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Pete Bigelow · Role of U.S. Government in Manufacturing Sector At a Crossroads
September 13th, 2011
At a plant near Dow Chemical’s headquarters in Midland, Mich., roof shingles that generate solar power are being produced thanks to a $141 million state grant. Nearby, the federal government is paying nearly half the cost of a $362 million Dow plant that will produce electric car batteries.
The public-private arrangement is not an unusual one.
In the 21st century, manufacturers are increasingly relying upon governments to “prosper and expand,” says The New York Times. Whether it’s a multinational corporation like Dow or a smaller-scale operation like Vermeer Corporation in Pella, Iowa, the manufacturers are nudging the American government toward a more active role in industry, even as the sector’s influence and power appears to be waning.They’d like to see Washington mirror China’s role in boosting production.
The transition comes at a time when manufacturing has otherwise “fallen off Washington’s radar screen,” The Times writes. That perhaps changed somewhat in President Obama’s address to a joint session of Congress last Thursday, at which he championed a new wave of domestic manufacturing.
“We’re going to make sure the next generation of manufacturing takes root not in China or Europe, but right here, in the United States of America,” Obama said. But Mary Vermeer Andringa, the CEO at Vermeer, says that’s a more complicated process than it seems.
“I am a very big proponent of making the United States a great place from which to export,” Angringa she said. But she added: “If we wanted to stay in the Chinese market, we needed to be there. That was the reality.”
Pete Bigelow · Role of U.S. Government in Manufacturing Sector At a Crossroads
September 13th, 2011
At a plant near Dow Chemical’s headquarters in Midland, Mich., roof shingles that generate solar power are being produced thanks to a $141 million state grant. Nearby, the federal government is paying nearly half the cost of a $362 million Dow plant that will produce electric car batteries.
The public-private arrangement is not an unusual one.
In the 21st century, manufacturers are increasingly relying upon governments to “prosper and expand,” says The New York Times. Whether it’s a multinational corporation like Dow or a smaller-scale operation like Vermeer Corporation in Pella, Iowa, the manufacturers are nudging the American government toward a more active role in industry, even as the sector’s influence and power appears to be waning.They’d like to see Washington mirror China’s role in boosting production.
The transition comes at a time when manufacturing has otherwise “fallen off Washington’s radar screen,” The Times writes. That perhaps changed somewhat in President Obama’s address to a joint session of Congress last Thursday, at which he championed a new wave of domestic manufacturing.
“We’re going to make sure the next generation of manufacturing takes root not in China or Europe, but right here, in the United States of America,” Obama said. But Mary Vermeer Andringa, the CEO at Vermeer, says that’s a more complicated process than it seems.
“I am a very big proponent of making the United States a great place from which to export,” Angringa she said. But she added: “If we wanted to stay in the Chinese market, we needed to be there. That was the reality.”
