Reviving American Manufacturing

Creating the Factories of the Future...And Helping Workers To Make it in America

(As Prepared for Delivery)

You've probably never heard of Magnequench, Inc., a company in Valparaiso, Indiana. But I want to tell you their story.
They make rare earth magnets, a key component in "smart bombs," the kind that helped us win the war in Iraq.

Obviously "smart bombs" are crucial to our national security. But there's a problem with Magnequench. They've announced their intention to close down and move—to China.

That's right. Soon, the rare earth magnet for America's smart bombs may carry the label "Made in China."
Magnequench is not alone. We are in the midst of the worst decline in manufacturing since after World War II. America is hemorrhaging manufacturing jobs.

Consider this:

America has lost manufacturing jobs for 30 consecutive months since George Bush took office.

During that time we've lost 2.4 million manufacturing jobs--56,000 last month alone.

Our trade deficit on goods reached $482 billion last year—the largest in our history.

The problem is especially bad here in New Hampshire, where more than 20,000 manufacturing jobs have been lost since Bush came into office. That is one out of every five such jobs in the state.

How many of you know someone who has lost a job in manufacturing?

Well just last week, I visited the Ken-Mar factory just down the road—which, as you probably know, makes sheet metal.
Three years ago, Ken-Mar was a beehive of activity, with its workers piling up overtime to meet the demand for their product.

Now, they're down to one shift, operating at 50 percent of capacity. Why? Because some of their biggest customers have either closed or left America. Healthcare costs are skyrocketing. And the workers told me they're deeply worried about their future.

I see that all across America today—American workers worried about their job security.

But, my friends, here's our problem: the man in the Oval Office seems to be saying, 'What, me worry?' That's not the leadership we need from our President.

Today I want to talk about one of the most important ways I plan to move the country forward as President: by reversing the Bush Manufacturing Recession and creating new, high-paying manufacturing jobs.

Some people hear 'manufacturing' and think 'yesterday.' I don't.

Today I'm announcing my plan to revive American manufacturing for tomorrow. Rather than thinking we can build walls around our economy, as some Democrats would have us do, I want to open up markets around the world for American-made goods.

Rather than standing back and leaving America's workers and manufacturers to sink or swim, as this President is doing, I want our government to help business create a rising tide of manufacturing growth—and help our workers ride that tide to new jobs and prosperity.

Here in the United States, we've been the leaders... the leaders in innovation, the leaders in investment, the leaders in entrepreneurship. If it can be made anywhere, we should make it here.

That's my message: Let's make it in America... and help our workers to make it in America again.

This is an emergency. American manufacturing is in the ER. First, we need to stop the bleeding. Then we need to help the patient recover.

So enough of the old debates. Enough thinking the government should sit on its hands. We've seen what that costs: more than 3 million jobs lost since George W. Bush became President.

But neither can we go back to protectionism.

You know that. A quarter of Diversified Optical's sales are overseas. So it doesn't matter where a customer may be—up in the North Country or Down Under in Australia. A sale is a sale.

As President Clinton said, we're 4 percent of the world's people. We will only stay strong if we sell more to the other 96 percent.

But some don't get it. Just a few days ago, one of my opponents pledged never to sign trade treaties like NAFTA, which President Clinton signed, if he becomes the President.

That's the wrong answer. To keep and grow jobs, we need more customers around the world, not fewer. The path to prosperity for America isn't going backwards and pulling out of global economic competition.

We're in this race... and we need to win it. We need to break down foreign trade barriers to American-made goods. And when
I'm President, we will.

Let me tell you about my plan.

First, we've got to confront the challenge from China.

The Soviet Union was our most powerful and determined opponent in the Cold War. That war is over. But we are now
engaged in a different, more peaceful battle for our economic future, and our fiercest competitor is China.
Securing a mutually respectful and peaceful relationship with China in the generations ahead is one of our most important
foreign policy goals. That's why I've worked to bring China into the world economic community, not push them away.

But this relationship has to be based on honesty and fairness. And right now, it's not. China isn't playing by the rules of free
trade. They are stacking the deck in their favor, and it's costing us jobs.

First, by ripping off our patents and our products. And I'm not just talking about pirating copies of the new 'Pirates of the Caribbean' movie.

I'm talking about knocking off aircraft parts, auto parts, medicines and other products that Americans invented and
patented. According to the FBI, the cost to American businesses of counterfeit goods is at least $200 billion a year. And we
know the center of this theft is China. That's wrong, and it's got to stop.

Second, China is violating the rights of its workers. Experts estimate that 6-8 million people are in forced labor there, and put child labor numbers at about 9 million. That's bad for Chinese workers. But it's also bad for our workers, because it
makes China's products unfairly cheaper on the world market.

And third, China does not free its currency—the yuan—to find its fair value in the global currency markets. Instead, it intentionally ties its value to the dollar. Just this week, Alan Greenspan said that this practice is going to have to end.

Why does it matter? Because in manufacturing, it's price that drives sales. And right now, the yuan could be undervalued by as much as 40 percent. How can we compete with that?

President Bush must know all this is going on, but he is doing nothing about it. Even when it comes to the exodus of our semiconductor industry—an industry that needs to be strong for our national security—he's looking the other way.

I don't know why, unless it's his ideological aversion to having our government do anything to intervene in our economy—even if it is to help American manufacturers and workers.

For us, Bush's laissez-faire means 'I don't care.'

Well, we'd better care. All of us.

Do you know the size of our trade deficit with China last year? $20 billion? $50 billion?

Try again: $103 billion, almost a quarter of our total, record-breaking trade deficit. And if it keeps growing this way, the experts tell me it will top $300 billion within five years.

We're getting killed. They are eating our lunch. And that costs us jobs.

Because if we import everything and don't export anything, we just won't have an economic future in America.

As President, I won't leave American manufacturers and workers defenseless while we are being manipulated economically. I will crack down on cheating by China or any other nation in the world by using the full power of my office and whatever international treaties, organizations or tools I can employ.

I'll keep working to open new markets and grow our exports. But I'll work just as hard to ensure that free trade is fair trade, so America's businesses and workers and American-made goods can succeed in the global market.

Once we re-level the international trading field, we have to do everything we can to restore our manufacturing strength here at home.

For one thing, we need to give our companies good reasons to keep good jobs here.

That's why I'll give companies that manufacture here in the U.S. a real tax break. The more you produce here, the bigger the credit. That's an incentive to stay and grow.

But that's just a start. Knowing that innovation is critical to job creation in today's new economy, we need to help businesses build the Factories of the Future.

On my watch, the factories of today will not become the museums of tomorrow.

I'll create a new public-private partnership called NextTech. It will be modeled after SemaTech, a joint venture set up in the 1980's to grow America's semiconductor industry, and will conduct the basic R&D that will yield the next generation of
advanced manufacturing processes.

Then we must train the workers of today to fill jobs in the factories of the future.

Many of you probably work in jobs that didn't even exist ten or twenty years ago. This is a light-speed economy. It seems like every week there's a new piece of software, a new machine, or a new system to learn. If we don't give our workers the tools to upgrade their skills, we're pushing them down the ladder of opportunity.

But today, workers have to jump through hoops to get training help. It's hard to find time and money to do that when you're holding down a job or looking for a new one.

I'll fix that when I'm President by making training more affordable and accessible. For starters, I will create Tools for Tomorrow Scholarships. They will provide up to $1,500 a year to workers who want to compete for jobs in manufacturing.

Whether you're displaced or just looking to get a new set of skills, getting training must become quicker, easier, and less expensive.

If we adopt the ideas and goals in my manufacturing plan, we will keep America's place as the world's leading advanced manufacturer...

We will create a level playing field...

And we will give our companies and workers the tools to win on it.

We can do it—with the right leadership. Leadership that understands that it's not about left or right. It's about doing what works to protect and create jobs. That's what I am focusing on in this campaign. And that's what I'll do as President.

I ask your help in this historic fight for a better future...a future that can, and must, be made in America.