1. Running head: THE VANISHING AMERICAN MANUFACTURER 1
The Vanishing American Manufacturer
Robin Erickson
Globe University

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Abstract
Robert McCormack, editor of Manufacturing & Technology News, authored The Plight of
American Manufacturing, in The American Prospect at prospect.org, on December 21, 2009. In
this article, McCormack addresses the dilemma the American economy is facing due to the
decline in the manufacturing sector. To summarize, the author includes statements about the
causes and effects of the movement of our manufacturing base to foreign countries, which are in
line with other sources included within my research. The author illustrates industry examples
which show the decline of our manufacturing and technical edge. America cannot make it
without a strong manufacturing base. Without a strong manufacturing base, we receive less tax
dollars to support our nation and we become more dependent upon foreign countries for our
goods and technology.

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The Vanishing American Manufacturer
To those hard working families that work in the manufacturing sector, we need to daily
give thanks for our jobs. Currently, I am an employee of a large multi-national corporation.
Gone are the days when a person can exit out of high school, obtain a factory position, and
expect to continue to work there until retirement. The business environment is changing fast and
those who are wise need to take a close look at the current trends in the employment sectors and
make any adjustments in skill sets, if needed. This means getting ourselves educated or
reeducated. Be ready, the manufacturing sector is expected to decline by 4.6 percent by 2022
(Labor, 2013). My research will show how the North American Free Trade Agreement
(NAFTA) and the immigration of foreign workers to the U.S. are related and how NAFTA has
contributed to the loss of American manufacturing jobs.
On December 8, 1993, President Bill Clinton signed the NAFTA legislation, which was
originally promoted as a job creator for the U.S. This piece of legislation, essentially, created the
world's largest free trade zone between Canada, the United States, and Mexico ( Rector and
Visitors of the University of Virginia, 2015). A free trade zone eliminated such things as tariffs,
which reduced the cost of trading. NAFTA basically allows a corporation to relocate their
production outside the United States and then turn around and sell those products back to the
United States (Faux, 2013). By using a cheaper source of labor, corporations were able to
produce products at a lower cost.
During the 1992 Presidential Debate, however, Ross Perot knew better when he
said:
To those of you in the audience who are business people, pretty simple: If you're
paying $12, $13, $14 an hour for factory workers and you can move your factory

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South of the border, pay a dollar an hour for labor, hire young -- let's assume
you've been in business for a long time and you've got a mature work force -- pay
a dollar an hour for your labor, have no health care -- that's the most expensive
single element in making a car -- have no environmental controls, no pollution
controls and no retirement, and you don't care about anything but making money,
there will be a giant sucking sound going south (New York Times, 1992). This
giant sucking sound continues to this day.
Therefore, when you hear about future trade agreements, like the Trans-Pacific Treaty
Partnership, that are supposed create more jobs in America, be skeptical. According to Jon
Rappoport, “Activists have called it ‘NAFTA on steroids’” and “One expert called it ‘A
Christmas wish list for major corporations’” (Rappoport, 2014). If these claims turn out to be
true, then Americans will lose even more jobs to foreign labor.
NAFTA’s main purpose was to free up American corporations from having to protect its
workers and the environment (Faux, 2013). By doing so, corporations would be able to save a
ton of money. The results from NAFTA are largely apparent; declining wages and benefits in
the U.S., thousands of factory closures, and a declining standard of living (Faux, 2013).
According to Richard McCormack of The American Prospect, “Since 2001, the U.S. has lost
42,400 factories-and its technical edge” (McCormack, 2009). It seems like our technical edge
has gone south, as well. Actually, it went to the East (Snyder, 2014). For example, we’ve been
building up China as a manufacturing leader for some time now.
NAFTA has drastically affected the American worker in three ways. First of all, when
companies decided to move their production to Mexico where labor is cheaper, it caused the loss
of about 700,000 jobs. Most of these losses came from heavy industrial states such as California,

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Michigan, and Texas. This effect alone has caused a huge drain on our economic environment.
When a company closes, the whole community is affected in some way, shape, or form.
Companies employ transportation companies to haul their goods; service companies are hired to
service their needs; the list goes on, which creates a snowball effect on a community when a
company disappears. Secondly, NAFTA strengthened the ability of U.S. employers to accept
lower wages and benefits. With this ability, it is essentially ‘leveling the playing field’ when it
relates to wages that foreigners may receive if they work in the U.S. Corporations even began
threatening their workers that if their companies didn’t lower their cost of labor, they would
move the company to Mexico. This threat was also used against local governments in which the
corporations would demand lower taxes and subsidies. Last but not least, several million
Mexican workers and their families were driven out of the agriculture and small business sectors
which could not compete with the flood of U.S. subsidized products (Faux, 2013). Sonali
Kolhatkar reported:
What in fact happened under NAFTA was that heavily subsidized U.S. corn
flooded the Mexican market, putting millions of [Mexican] farmers out of work.
Multinational corporations opened up factories creating low-wage [Mexican] jobs
at the expense of organized labor and the environment. This, in turn, drove waves
of migration north.
(Kolhatkar, 2014).
This situation caused an arrival of an extraordinary number of workers in America, which
is placing a downward spiral on American wages. This shift of illegal and legal immigrants to
the U.S. will no doubt cause problems for American workers in the competitive and social
environments. This pressure can presently be found in the lower paying labor markets (Faux,

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2013). According to Kurt Nimmo, Alan Greenspan and the globalists are purposely flooding
America with immigrants because they know that they will work for less and will displace
American workers (Nimmo, 2011). Americans will not only have to compete for jobs with
immigrants in America, but they will also have to pay to accommodate them through our tax
dollars!
NAFTA is a catalyst to the end of manufacturing in America. A challenge that
corporations face is the temptation of using the lower paying labor markets that are found
overseas and across our borders. The NAFTA movement has not only inspired corporations to
move to Mexico and Canada, but also to China and India. It’s the spark from a flame which has
grown so large that it has left behind unimaginable results, which could not have even been
fathomed before NAFTA.
The following are ten facts about the state of our manufacturing sector:
1. China’s total exports and imports are greater than the U.S;
2. The leading manufacturer of goods is now China;
3. The largest new car market belongs to China;
4. The soon-to-be leader in patent filings will be China;
5. China awards more doctoral degrees in engineering per year than the U.S;
6. The number one producer of wind and solar power is China;
7. China more than triples the production of coal than the U.S;
8. China’s steel production is 11 times as much as the U.S;
9. China’s number one export to the United States is computer equipment, according to
author Clyde Prestowitz; and finally,

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10. The number one export to China is “scrap and trash,” according to an article in U.S.
News & World Report (Snyder, 2014).
Scrap and trash. Is that the best that we can do? According to the author, Jeff Faux, we are in a
“race to the bottom” (Faux, 2013). The facts don’t lie, we have lost, or greatly displaced, our
competitive and technological edge.
The lure for CEOs to take advantage of NAFTA and move their corporations to a foreign
country to enhance their profits and to forsake the American worker is irresistible. Some of the
benefits that a CEO may enjoy are undervalued currencies, health care that is paid for by the
hosting government, subsidies for energy, land, buildings and equipment are provided, zero-
interest financing, low wages for workers, and safety or environmental regulations that may not
be enforced (McCormack, 2009). All these benefits add to the bottom line of the corporation at
the expense of the American worker. The less expenses that a corporation needs to incur, the
more profit they make (Nickels, 2013). In my opinion, to trade-off the American worker for a
little extra money is to trade-in our country.
I can translate this practice into words with a single quote from John D. Rockefeller Sr.
who was the first billionaire of his time. When he was once asked, “How much money is enough
money?" He replied, "Just a little bit more” (Rockefeller, 2011). Unfortunately, this is the
mentality of some of America’s brightest CEOs.
We have now learned how NAFTA is related to our immigration problem and how
NAFTA has contributed to the loss of American manufacturing jobs. Let us be thankful to the
remaining manufacturers who have refused to get on the bus going south. To the businesses that
have remained and still believe in the American dream; prosperity can still be found here at

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home, we salute you. Let us not forget, nor let our fellow Americans forget, that we are ‘Made
in America.’

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References
Rector and Visitors of the University of Virginia. (2015). American President: A reference
resource. Retrieved from http://millercenter.org:
http://millercenter.org/president/events/12_08
Entreprenuer Media. (2013, February 14). 10 inspirational presidential quotes. Retrieved from
www.entrepreneur.com: http://www.entrepreneur.com/slideshow/225769
Faux, J. (2013, December 13). NAFTA at 20: State of the north american worker. Retrieved from
www.infowars.com: http://www.infowars.com/nafta-at-20-state-of-the-north-american-
worker/
Kolhatkar, S. (2014, January 9). After 20 years, NAFTA leaves Mexico's economy in ruins.
Retrieved from Truthdig.com.
Labor, U. B. (2013, December). Occupational employment projections to 2022. Retrieved from
bls.gov: http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2013/article/occupational-employment-projections-
to-2022.htm
McCormack, R. (2009, December 21). The plight of american manufacturing. Retrieved from
prospect.org: https://prospect.org/article/plight-american-manufacturing
New York Times. (1992, October 16). The 1992 campaign; transcript of the 2d TV debate
between Bush, Clinton, and Perot. Retrieved from www.nytimes.com:
http://www.nytimes.com/1992/10/16/us/the-1992-campaign-transcript-of-2d-tv-debate-
between-bush-clinton-and-perot.html
Nickels, W. (2013). Understanding Business. McGraw-Hill/Irwin.

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Nimmo, K. (2011, July 15). Greenspan: Dumb Americans deserve unemployment. Retrieved
from www.infowars.com: http://www.infowars.com/greenspan-dumb-americans-deserve-
unemployment/
Rappoport, J. (2014, December 22). Immigration, open US borders: The secret reason. Retrieved
from www.infowars.com: http://infowars.com/immigration-open-us-borders-the-secret-
reason/
Rockefeller, J. D. (2011). New World Encyclopedia. Retrieved from
www.newworldencyclopedia:
http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/John_D._Rockefeller
Snyder, M. (2014, October 9). Not just the largest economy-here are 26 other ways china has
surpassed America. Retrieved from www.infowars.com: http://www.infowars.com/not-
just-the-largest-economy-here-are-26-other-ways-china-has-surpassed-america/