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-- OriginalOwner_ [tinyurl.com] writes:

Robert B. Reich has served in three national administrations, most recently as Secretary of Labor under President Bill Clinton. His latest book is "Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few".
He reports [alternet.org] via AlterNet

When Donald Trump gave a speech [February 17] at Boeing's factory in North Charleston, South Carolina--unveiling Boeing's new 787 "Dreamliner"--he congratulated Boeing for building the plane "right here" in South Carolina. It's pure fantasy.

[...]Trump seems utterly ignorant about global competition--and about what's really holding back American workers.

Start with Boeing's Dreamliner itself. It's not "made in the USA". It's assembled in the United States. But most of it parts come from overseas. Those foreign parts total almost a third [businessinsider.com] of the cost of the entire plane.

[...]Notably, [the 9 foreign subcontractor companies which Reich gives as examples] don't pay their workers low wages. In fact, when you add in the value of health and pension benefits--either directly from these companies to their workers, or in the form of public benefits to which the companies contribute--most of these foreign workers get a better deal than do Boeing's workers. (The average wage for Boeing production and maintenance workers in South Carolina is $20.59 per hour, or $42,827 a year. [postandcourier.com]) [The foreign workers] also get more paid vacation days.

[...]These nations also provide most young people with excellent educations [nytimes.com][Paywall [soylentnews.org]] and technical training. They continuously upgrade the skills of their workers. And they offer universally-available health care.[1]

To pay for all this, these countries also impose higher tax rates on their corporations and wealthy individuals than does the United States. And their health, safety, environmental, and labor regulations are stricter. Not incidentally, they have stronger unions.[1]

So why is so much of Boeing's Dreamliner coming from these high-wage, high-tax, high-cost places? Because the parts made by workers in these countries are better, last longer, and are more reliable than parts made anywhere else.

There's a lesson here. The way to make the American workforce more competitive isn't to put economic walls around America. It's to invest more and invest better in the education and skills of Americans, in on-the-job training, in a healthcare system that reaches more of us and makes sure we stay healthy. And to give workers a say in their companies through strong unions.

In other words, we get a first-class workforce by investing in the productive capacities of Americans--and rewarding them with high wages. It's the exact opposite of what Trump is proposing.

[...]By the way, [...] if Trump succeeds in putting an economic wall around America, [Singapore Airlines, Air France, British Airways, Aeromexico, and the airlines of China, who are Boeing's customers and potential customers] may have second thoughts about buying from Boeing. They might choose an airplane from a country more open to their own exports--say, Europe's Airbus.

Trump's "America First" economics is pure demagoguery. Xenophobic grandstanding doesn't boost the competitiveness of American workers. Nor does it boost American-based companies.

[1] Link dup'd in TFA.

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