As regular blog readers know, we’ve kinda laid off Lou Dobbs these days as he continues to run the same show day in and day out, and as his air time continues to dwindle. In fact, our last piece, “Lou Dobbs Jumps the Shark” was the first thing we had written in a while, as he becomes more and more of a shill for the AFL-CIO and their issues. Heck, we can duel with them directly without going through Lou.

Well, we started getting a few comments on Wednesday on our “Jumps the Shark” entry and wondered what was up. We should preface this all by saying that Lou’s off the air this week, so his minions have taken over, but they are clearly sprung from his loins as their stuff looks frighteningly like his. Something in the water up there, we guess. (Who knows? Maybe they’re drinking out of the Hudson River….)

In any event, as you know, we unveiled our 2005 Skills Gap Survey on Tuesday which we recounted below. The beauty of this issue (up ’til now, that is) is that in a city so polarized, this is one topic that seems to unite folks from both ends of the spectrum, i.e., the need for skills in our manufacturing workplace.

So we checked out the transcript from Dobbs’ Tuesday show and found this whopper:

“A new study finds fault with American workers for this country’s manufacturing decline.” When the story ran, it ran with the banner, “Manufacturers Blame Factory Workers for Job Loss”.

How on earth anyone could glean this nugget from this study is beyond anyone who actually read it — or who even read the Executive Summary. Dobbs’ show went on to interview the left-leaning (although they forgot to add that appellation) Economic Policy Institute as saying, “A lot of times when employers are saying we can’t find the skilled workforce they need, the unspoken part of that is, not at the pay raise [they presumably said "rate"] we’re offering.”

Do these people live in the same manufacturing country that we do? Manufacturing workers’ pay is some 20% higher than the average pay. They’re well-paid because they are the best manufacturing workers in the world, plain and simple. Our manufacturers find and keep the best talent by providing top of the line pay and benefits packages. What world do these other folks live in? They need to go talk to a real manufacturer.

Dobbs’ folks threw in some guy from the AFL-CIO (at least we know where they’re coming from) who says that manufacturers cut back on training when times get tough. Actually, that’s not true, but in a mountain of so much stuff that wasn’t true, it was just one more near-fact tossed in the pile.

So Jerry Jasinowski, President of the Manufacturing Institute, the sponsors of the study, was set to go on Dobbs’ show on Wednesday night, a full day after they had stacked the deck against him and made this non-partisan study into an “us vs. them” story. At the last minute, Jasinowski had to decline. And so in Wednesday’s transcript is this gem:

Now, we had hoped to continue our discussion of the competitiveness of American workers with Jerry Jasinowski, the president of the National Association of Manufacturers (sic). However, Mr. Jasinowski today decided to cancel his appearance on this program.

It should be pointed out that NAM sponsors a blog that continually derides this show’s anchor and its reporting and repeatedly calls for opposing positions to be aired.

Now, we had hoped to do just that before Mr. Jasinowski’s change of heart. For the record, we stand by Lisa Sylvester’s report and our invitation to Mr. Jasinowski remains open.”

For the record, they really weren’t having a “discussion of the competitiveness of American workers.” And furthermore, by no stretch of the imagination did the study, “find fault with American workers for this country’s manufacturing decline.” Far from it. As you can see from this summary, it was all pretty forward-looking, identifying problems and offering solutions — not blaming anybody.

Looks like Lou decided to offer up a turkey a little early. Suffice it to say that the press coverage of this study was overwhelming, and overwhelmingly positive. For some reason, only Lou Dobbs’ show drew this conclusion. If we didn’t know any better, we’d almost think that either they didn’t read the study, or they had an agenda.

Thanksgiving is also a time to reflect and to be thankful for the food on the table and the home in which we enjoy this feast.  That is where Gratz, Pa.-based MI Windows & Doors, Inc. plays an important role.

MI Windows & Doors is one of the largest manufacturers of vinyl, aluminum and cellular composite windows and doors in the country.  For the past six years, the company has donated windows and money to Habitat for Humanity. It began as a charity suitable for the company to contribute to due to its connection to the construction industry.  As Vice President of Business Development, Matt DeSoto, noted recently, “We are so proud to be a supporter of Habitat for Humanity and we all feel fortunate to be a contributing member of the true American dream; home ownership!”

Be sure to come back tomorrow, Thanksgiving, our final installment of Manufacturers & Thanksgiving

OK, somebody’s gonna win a Pulitzer for this one. Here’s an article from yesterday’s Washington Post under the above headline, i.e., “Demand for Natural Gas Outpaces Supply.” As the kids say, “Duh!” We’ve been saying this forever, but it took a government expert, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Chairman Joseph Kelliher to launch it into the news. He held a press conference this week to say that supplies for natural gas remain constant while demand has soared. Guess what happened to price?

So in yesterday’s reporter roundtable at Reuters with Gov. Engler, somebody says there’s an idea kicking around Washington to open up a natural gas version of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, a huge stockpile of the stuff. This is why it’s great working around John Engler. In a heartbeat, he deadpanned, “We already have it — it’s called the Outer Continental Shelf.” Perfect. We’re sitting on 420 trillion cubic feet of natural gas but we can’t tap it because it’s under a federal moratorium. There’s your strategic natural gas reserve. Whaddaya say we tap it?

Write your Member of Congress and tell them to get it done.

NAM President John Engler was hosted by the nice folks at Reuters yesterday for another in our series of “reporter roundtables.” We’ve already been to the Washington Post, the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Business Week and others, thought it was time to swing by and see Reuters, with whom we deal quite frequently. There were some 8 reporters and editors in all, peppering the poor Gov. as he tried to eat his lunch on questions ranging form China (especially the currency issue), energy, pensions, job training, ANWR, trade (Doha and Hong Kong) and a few other issues. They left no stone unturned and Gov. Engler handled them all with his usual aplomb.

Just wanted to give a little shout-out to the folks at Reuters. Thanks especially to Caren Bohan and Sarah Edmonds for honchoing the visit and to them and their fellow reporters (and editors) Tom Doggett, David Lawder, Doug Palmer, Glenn Somerville, Andrea Hopkins, Tim Dobbyn and Mike Dolan. We appreciate the invite and look forward to the stories that yesterday’s session will no doubt birth.

Sorry we didn’t get around to posting this ’til today, but yesterday was pretty busy around NAM HQ. As promised, we released the 2005 Skills Gap Study. Among its key findings:

– Today’s skill shortages in manufacturing are extremely broad and deep, cutting across industry sectors and impacting more than 80% of the companies surveyed.

– Skills shortages are having a widespread impact on manufacturers’ abilities to achieve production levels, increase productivity and meet customer demands.

– High performance workforce requirements have significantly increased as a result of the skills gap shortage and the challenge of competing in a global economy, according to nearly 75% of the study’s participants.

Among its recommendations, the study urges:

– Educators to emphasize science, math and technology-related programs in K-12 curricula and invest more in teacher education;

– State education standards to include career education as measurable criteria for K-12 success;

– Employers to invest at least 3 percent of payroll whenever possible in training for current employees; and

– Government to partner with business to improve the K-12 and community college system to develop a high-performance workforce.

Here’s a link to the full study, here’s a link to the Executive Summary and here’s a link to our press release from yesterday which provides a nice summary as well.

Thanksgiving morning means parades, the like the time-honored Macy’s department store parade that winds down the streets of Manhattan or America’s Thanksgiving Parade (R) in Detroit, Mich. where huge inflatable balloons featuring favorite cartoon characters seem to bounce between the skyscrapers as they entertain the millions who attend and watch on television.

Who makes some of those balloons?  Well, if you guessed an NAM member, then you were correct.

Far from New York City is Sioux Falls, S.D.-based Raven Industries, and more importantly to the parades, the company’s Aerostar International subsidiary.  Aerostar International is known as the world leader in setting the industry standard for the design, engineering and manufacturing of parade balloons, helium inflatables, remote control blimps and hot air balloons.  The sky is the limit for this NAM member and as you wake-up on turkey day, you’ll see what we’re talking about.

Be sure to come back tomorrow for our fourth installment of Manufacturers & Thanksgiving

The first in-depth survey on the US manufacturing workforce in four years will be released at a news conference at the National Press Club today in Washington. NAM President John Engler will be there along with Manufacturing Institute President Jerry Jasinowski and Richard Kleinert, the head of the Human Capital practice at Deloitte Consulting.

This survey will form the basis for the 2005 Skills Gap Report, a look at the manufacturing workforce and the implications of skills shortages for US competitiveness and recommendations.

We will post a link to the study as soon as it’s available today. Here’s a link to the media advisory.

To continue on last week’s energy survey of 10,000 small and medium manufacturers, our guys and gals continue to say it better than we can. This thing is a treasure trove of comments about the real-life impact of higher energy prices on manufacturers and ultimately, on the general public. Some more nuggets:

“Between Hurricane Wilma and the energy costs we have been slammed. We went eight days without power. And there are announced electric bill increases of 30-41 percent. This is painful to all Floridians.” (Remember they have 420 trillion cubic feet of natural gas off the coast down there in the Outer Continental Shelf….)

“We purchased a million-dollars plus in new equipment and now we are not sure if we can afford to run it due to high fuel prices.”

“Electric rates are soaring and the Congress is not acting to bring in more electric supply and cheaper fuels for producing electricity. We need help!!!”

“We may alter our working hours during the winter to reduce fuel use. This will mean a reduction of working hours for employees.”

“A portion of the costs can be passed on, but employees will suffer also with reduction of benefit, wages and year-end bonuses.”

“Materials costs are up over 100 percent in two years with rapid increases over two months following hurricanes. [Plastics] Industry on verge of meltdown.”

Drop a note to your Member of Congress, tell them to do something about increasing domestic supplies of energy.

Here’s a link to an AP story by the above title.

Says the study, “The state’s annual measurement of physical fitness found most California students are too fat, slow or weak for their age group.”

Consider this an open thread. Comments, anyone?

For those of you surfing the ‘net to find some facts on global warming, we’re glad you’ve found us — you’ve come to the right place. Here is some information on climate change, some links that we hope will take the hysteria out of the topic and in its place put in some facts.
First, you’ve probably heard about the Kyoto accords. The US didn’t sign them. Neither did India or China, two of our largest competitors. In the Clinton Administration, the decision not to sign on to them was supported by a 95-0 vote in the US Senate, so it wasn’t a partisan issue. Countries who signed on to the accords agreed to meet certain targets for emissions. However, most countries will fall way short of meeting those targets, while seeing their energy prices rise. In fact, in an article from yesterday , the UK’s representative at global climate talks has reportedly “gone cold” on the concept of the mandatory targets as set out in the Kyoto accords.

This site has a calculator of what the Kyoto accords are costing, and a thermometer which will show you how much they will improve the earth’s temperature by 2050. As you’ll see, it’s not much. It’s 0.001158723 degrees Celsius.

Next, the Washington Post ran a story on this a little while ago, saying that the globe was warming. However, an astute reader posted this comment on our blog:

The Washington Post report “World Temperatures Keep Rising With a Hot 2005″ was wrong on several accounts, not the least being with temperatures.

Even the graph at the base of the page showed that temperatures have fallen in the last 2 years. The annual average temperature in US has fallen since 1998. NASA’s web page on the subject shows that in 2004 about 50% of the world had average temperatures below the average for the last 5 years.

I wonder how the Washington Post justifies their comment that temperatures “keep rising”?

As you can see, temperature fluctuations have been around for a long time. To prove that point, months earlier, the Washington Post ran another tiny story that escaped almost everyone’s notice which showed that oceanic and atmospheric temperature variations 9500 years ago were greater than those now that are tied to human factors, according to the British Antarctic Survey. Hmmmm… Didn’t have a lot of internal combustion engines 9500 years ago, did we?

Finally, there are a lot of celebrities — from Barbra Streisand to Al Gore — who claim to be experts on this topic, but in fact, they are not. Here’s a lawsuit on global warming that was recently thrown out in New York by a federal judge where some people were trying to make a political issue into a legal issue. The judge basically said “forget it”.

We just want you to be sensitive to and aware of the many theories that abound out there. Many diverse groups (you’ll see some mentioned in this link) have poked holes in the theory of global warming. It’s important to get educated on the topic before blindly following the voices of a few zealous but often uninformed folks.