John M. Tomaszewski – 7/13/11

This page was last updated on July 14, 2011.

We need more blue-collar jobs; John M. Tomaszewski; Beaver County Times; July 13, 2011.

Since September 2004, this is at least the 57^th letter from Mr. Tomaszewski with all but a handful spouting leftist talking points, with most bashing Republicans and/or former President Bush. A 2009 letter was entitled “If this be socialism, then give me more” and another advocated raising taxes.

Below is a detailed critique of the subject letter.

“Whenever the American economy was good, according to the U.S. Labor Department, 51 percent of the blue-collar jobs were in manufacturing.

“Today, only 6 percent of the blue-collar jobs are in manufacturing.”

[RWC] I could not find Mr. Tomaszewski’s blue-collar-specific figures on the DOL’s Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) website or with a quick Google search. According to the BLS, all manufacturing jobs (not just blue-collar) as a percent of the total (non-farm) have been dropping since at least the early 1960s. According to that data, manufacturing jobs were about 27.7% in 1960 and 8.9% in 2010. In 2007 when the unemployment rate averaged 4.6% (5% is considered “full” employment), manufacturing jobs were 10.1% of the total.

“The blue-collar jobs went overseas under free-trade agreements.”

[RWC] This may be popular to claim, but it’s not true. If someone somewhere can provide a product or service cheaper than a U.S. business, there’s no way to stop it from having an effect on our economy. For example, we have a program in place to keep sugar prices high so domestic producers can “compete” with foreign producers. While that sounds fine for domestic sugar producers, it’s bad for domestic food companies, like candy manufacturers. Because domestic candy manufacturers must pay above-market prices for sugar, they are at a competitive disadvantage with foreign candy manufacturers. If we stick a finger in that “hole in the dike,” the dike will only leak somewhere else. For good or bad, we can’t build an economic wall around the country.

“For the economy to turn around, we need more manufacturing jobs, and I don’t see that happening.”

[RWC] The best thing we can do to keep/generate jobs is to eliminate unnecessary regulations and so-called business taxes. All they do is increase the cost of production for domestic business.