And in manufacturing, too. Manitowoc, Wisconsin, has been rebuilding its manufacturing base. In the past four years manufacturing employment in the town has increased. Not much, it's true, only 6%. But in this day in this country any increase has to be a positive sign.
Why Manitowoc? Some people think that there are several reasons - its location near a large share of the population, its ability to reach the ocean shipping lanes via the Great Lakes and, to my mind perhaps the most important, its population which has a long history of manufacturing. It also helps that the town is not dependent on the auto or housing markets; their factories make a lot of different products, from bombs to pipes to ice cream machines. And its not simply small factories that have been responsible for the comeback. Manitowoc Co. sold $4 billion of cranes last year; this year it will sell more as its backlog is up 72%.
Who knows but maybe the rise in transportation costs may hurt the countries that have been exporting to us. Perhaps, we'll see factories being re-opened to serve the people in the next town or state.
1 comment:
Protest is frowned on there.
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