AJ Sweatt Logic & Communications | For Manufacturing & Businesses | Manufacturing Advocate | Author | Speaker

We’re Taking US Manufacturing For Granted

10 Jun 2013, AJ Sweatt

Familiarity breeds contempt. Or neglect.

We see this all the time. We grow tired of things often in our lives. In relationships. In politics. With music. With food. With jobs. It’s important that we mix things up from time-to-time. Or in many cases, to re-energize or re-commit.

Maybe – just maybe – we became so accustomed to US manufacturing ‘just being there’ that we didn’t care to protect it. To nurture it. Or even notice it anymore.

What Economists & Academics Get Wrong About US Manufacturing

29 May 2013, AJ Sweatt

US manufacturing isn’t healing as fast as we’d like or as quickly as we deserve. On that, most of us can agree.

But it sure seems like we’re seeing a steady stream of misguided understanding among much of the economic & academic elite. They often seem to miss what a strong manufacturing base really means to us. Or any country, for that matter.

Recently, a young man named Brian Jencunas wrote a piece entitled ‘Trying To Revive American Manufacturing Is A Fool’s Errand.’ It is a perfect example of this lack of awareness of the values of a well-managed, inclusive industrial base.

It – and articles like it – make me wanna throw a baby turtle in a blender.

Scrappers, by Steve Bennish, documents the disaster of our economic & trade policies.

From Thriving To Barely Surviving: Our Lost Manufacturing Generation

20 May 2013, AJ Sweatt

Steve Bennish writes about business & economics for the Dayton (OH) Daily News. He’s also the author of a book called ‘Scrappers: Dayton Ohio and America go to scrap.’

It is a sobering, disgusting, gut-wrenching thing to see – the photographic documentation of the rendering of our middle-class manufacturing base to scavengers. It’s not easy to look at. And you should buy this book.

But don’t buy it because you want to support Steve – surely, it’s a brilliant book, and he deserves the support for having done it – but to share it with anyone and everyone that’ll listen to the truth about what we’ve allowed to happen.

Welcome ladies and gentlemen, to Ground Zero of what’s been done to our country in the name of hyper-globalization and unbridled free trade.

Ike had a keen perspective on politics, culture, and technology.

Warnings for US Manufacturing from Eisenhower’s Farewell Address

18 Apr 2013, AJ Sweatt

Dwight ‘Ike’ Eisenhower’s farewell address to the nation at the end of his second term in 1961 is famously remembered for its warning about the ‘military industrial complex’ and the influence – ‘economic, political, even spiritual’ - it could have on the ability of future generations to govern themselves.

But buried in this eloquent, heartfelt speech are also what I see as relevant, important warnings about caring for our national manufacturing and innovation capabilities.