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Strategies & Market Trends : Commodities - The Coming Bull Market -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Pink Minion who wrote (408)	7/2/2001 9:53:29 AM
From: craig crawford	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1643

Business & Technology 7/2/01 Not made in America Even when the slowdown ends, many manufacturers won't be coming back usnews.com By Joshua Kurlantzick The strong dollar, by raising the price of U.S. goods sold overseas, has hit manufacturers hard, while higher electricity prices burden energy-intensive industries such as steel and aluminum. Steel producers also complain that they must compete with state-subsidized industries abroad. In the first quarter of 2001, Nucor Corp., previously one of the more successful U.S. steel firms, saw profits drop 60 percent. Since 1997, 18 U.S. steel companies have filed for bankruptcy, and President Bush, an ardent free trader, is considering restricting steel imports. ............................................................................................................................................................ Geoffrey Owen, senior fellow at the London School of Economics' Institute of Management, argues that "resources should flow to those sectors, whether in manufacturing or services, where companies have a reasonable prospect of profitably competing internationally." Trade analyst Dan Ikenson of the libertarian Cato Institute agrees. Steel-import restrictions would "sacrifice the national interest to appease a squeaky, rusty wheel," he says. .................................................................................................................................................... Others are less sanguine. Steel producers argue that America will need sizable metal industries in the event of war or other national emergency. Herb Spivak, executive vice president at New Balance Athletic Shoe, makes the case that manufacturing spawns many crucial business innovations; jettisoning the sector would eviscerate some of the nation's finest research and development facilities ........................................................................................................................................... As China enters the World Trade Organization and tariffs on its exports are slashed, there will be still greater incentives for manufacturers to locate there. A Manufacturers Alliance report confirms some of these fears. It found that only five of the 23 major U.S. industries outside the infotech sector were accelerating production. Over the next 10 years, several analysts told U.S. News, the non-IT manufacturing sector may be whittled down to six or seven industries: aircraft and aerospace equipment, defense, food processing equipment, construction equipment, oil and gas exploration products, automobiles, and chemicals