As Factory Job Losses Rise, So Do Risks to Bush
MENOMONEE FALLS, Wis. — The gales of globalization are blowing hard across America's Factory Belt, but Cathy Schuldt does not plan to go quietly into the postindustrial era.
Schuldt, owner of Butler Wire & Metal Products Inc. in this Milwaukee suburb, laid off 19 of her plant's 49 employees after her customers began buying welded-wire baskets from Chinese suppliers who could deliver finished products for less than she was paying for raw materials.
She had plenty of company: The exodus from America's factories is responsible for all but 29,000 of the nearly 2.6 million U.S. jobs lost since President Bush took office. And that could have political ramifications as people like Schuldt share their pain in the voting booth.
Schuldt and her friends say they feel betrayed, abandoned and disenfranchised by the nation's economic elite and its defenders in Washington.
"George Bush had better get off his butt and start doing something. He still doesn't understand that the jobs that have left have left forever," said Schuldt, who is struggling to preserve the company her father founded 37 years ago. "Most of us have been conservative Republicans all our lives. I've never voted for a Democrat. But if I had someone I could vote for on the Democratic side that saw the picture, I definitely would."
Schuldt and other small manufacturers in Wisconsin have formed an organization called Save American Manufacturing Now, which is evaluating candidates for office based on their positions on trade issues. SAMNow recently endorsed the reelection bid of Sen. Russell D. Feingold, a liberal Democrat, and is considering endorsements in other congressional races, and possibly the presidential campaign.
Since 1979, when manufacturing employment peaked at 19.6 million, 1 in 4 factory jobs has disappeared. It took more than two decades to lose the first 2.5 million. The second 2.5 million have gone away since Bush took office in January 2001.
The main reasons: The sluggish economy reduced demand and forced companies to cut costs aggressively. Surging productivity enabled employers to produce more goods with fewer people. Outsourcing of production to China and other countries is responsible for as much as a third of the job loss, economists say. Other factors include rising production costs associated with regulation, litigation, health coverage and pension benefits
