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http://thekansan.com/stories/013004/vie_0130040039.shtml

Exporting U.S. jobs 

Former textile worker, Jimmy, of North Carolina, laments, "We were
middle class." Now he is among the 6,500 employees of the Pillowtex
towel factory laid off in August 2003. Just two years ago, Jimmy and
his wife bought a modest home, believing their combined wages would
support them comfortably. Today, like many of their former co-workers,
Jimmy and his wife both work part-time and have sold many of their
goods to try and get by. Thousands of other former Pillowtex workers
are facing foreclosures, eviction notices and car repos, making
difficult choices about which utilities to turn off.

The Pillowtex closing was an event akin to a natural disaster. But it
wasn't an act of nature that shut down the plant. Rather, the firm was
overwhelmed by a flood of imports from China, resulting in the largest
one-day layoff in the history of North Carolina. The Pillowtex closing
dramatically portrays the devastation being wrought throughout
America's manufacturing power by Communist China.

Manufacturing businesses, from electronics to fishing lures, are
closing their doors in deference to Chinese imports. Three members of
the president's cabinet on a cross-country jaunt to promote the Bush
economic plan have encountered an earful from angry businesspeople. A
spokesman of the Textile Manufacturers points out, "as textiles from
China, India, Pakistan and Vietnam flood the American market, people
are losing jobs faster than you can count. China dominates the
market."

Ironically, China came in and purchased looms and other machinery from
Pillowtex, crating and shipping them to China.

As a CEO of a closed furniture factory stated, "trying to stay in
business, we asked our employees to be more productive, more
efficient, even take pay cuts. The employees stepped up and done all
we asked, but we could not compete with the imports. I feel like we
let these folks down. It's unlike anything I've seen in my years in
the industry. Plants have closed, people sent home; it's hard to say,
three, four, five years what industry will look like in America. I
think that at some point, this country has to think about what's best
for us. We run a risk in any industry that we let leave this country."

The effects of job losses go well beyond the individual who lost the
job. Each time a factory shuts down, it has a ripple effect on the
economy and the wages of other workers in America. In other words, we
accelerate our "race to the bottom."

The erosion of the U.S. industrial base has "enormous national
security implications," reports National Defense Magazine (August
2003). The United States is so dependent on foreign countries for
critical components and systems that we may have lost our control of
our supply. We are now dependent on countries such as China, India,
Russia, France and Germany for critical weapons technology. For
America to be dependent on these nations is risky at best.

A very glaring local example is "Boeing to create jobs in South Korea"
(Kansan, April 2002). Boeing has a contract to make 40 F-I5 fighter
jets, the first-line fighter of the U.S. Air Force, and will build a
plant in South Korea, employing 30,000 workers to manufacture them.
Boeing also states that any future orders of F-1 5's will see
manufacture in the South Korea plant.

Our nation's manufacturing power has been the gateway to the middle
class for untold millions of American's, resulting in unprecedented
national prosperity. Asked to comment on America's grim economic
prospects, an observer declared, "I see an America where the middle
class declines to near-subsistence living. It's here already".

As I listened to President Bush in his State of the Union speech say,
"the economy is strong and growing stronger, and jobs are on the
rise," I could not help but agree with Joe Leiberman, who the next day
said, "This president is living in a dream world."

Anton Epp, Goessel