Pacific Progressive

The Top 10 Things to Do to Compete with China

This article was first published by Science Progress.

By Sean Pool and David Murdter | Wednesday, January 26th, 2011 | Share This |  Print

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Rising to the Challenge

Have a look at our new report on China’s technology innovation system, and what the U.S. can learn from it.

The days of China as the low-cost, low-tech manufacturer of the rest of the world’s high-tech innovations may soon be coming to a close. China now leads in the production of not just low-end manufactured consumer goods but also some high-tech devices, many of which were developed in the United States. This is making it harder and harder for even our high-tech companies to create jobs and compete in lucrative export markets.

The goals President Barack Obama presented in last night’s State of the Union address for U.S. competitiveness vis-à-vis China are right on the mark. He acknowledged thefundamental role innovation plays in driving economic growth when he said, “In America, innovation doesn’t just change our lives. It is how we make our living. … maintaining our leadership in research and technology is crucial to America’s success.”

Moving Beyond Start, Stop, Restart with China's Military

This article was published by the Center for American Progress.

By Rudy deLeon, Winny Chen 

At a time of almost constant strategic and economic dialogue between the United States and China, the relationship between the two countries’ respective militaries has been marked by a bumpy trajectory of start–stop–restart. As President Obama welcomes China’s President Hu Jintao to a White House summit today, the United States has a unique opportunity to advance a central but lagging component of the relationship: military-to-military relations.

During the 2009 presidential summit in Beijing, Presidents Hu and Obama committed to advancing strategic trust through an increased frequency of military-to-military exchange. The new level of exchange was intended to enhance practical cooperation and foster greater understanding of each other’s intentions within an increasingly complex global security environment. Events and reactions since the first summit have sorely tested this commitment.

Following the announcement of a U.S. arms package sale to Taiwan in January last year, China angrily cut off military exchange. Over the summer, a series of confrontations arose over the South and East China Seas, followed by tense disagreement over how to respond to North Korea’s attacks on South Korea’s Cheonan warship and Yeongpyeong island. Senior U.S. and Chinese military officials are now talking again, but there should be no illusion about the difficulty of this engagement.

National Security Regressives: A New Vocal Constituency Among Conservatives

This article was published by the Center for American Progress.

By Brian Katulis

The ratification of the New START nuclear arms treaty with Russia marked a defeat for an influential faction among America’s right that can best be described as national security regressives. These are “conservative” voices who oppose strengthening and utilizing the full range of traditional tools of American statecraft, including assertive diplomacy, smart and balanced national security spending, and precise and targeted measures to combat terrorist groups. They may have lost on New START, but they are not likely to go away anytime soon.

The fact that a modest arms control measure such as New START took so much time to ratify is a harbinger of tensions to come in 2011—a year in which conservatives face significant challenges reconciling competing national security agendas in their ranks. The starting bell on the Republican presidential primary fight is about to ring, and more foreign policy regressives have joined the ranks of the new Congress—so look for some sharp battles to emerge among conservatives on national security. This internal conservative debate could have a major impact on how America conducts its foreign policy in 2011 and beyond.

Conservatives today are more divided on foreign policy than they have been in decades. The 2010 Republican Party “Pledge” manifesto for the midterm elections, however, papered over these divisions, briefly mentioning national security as an afterthought. It contained few ideas on how to keep America secure and strong.

Adopt National Manufacturing Strategy as Part of the 'State of the Union' Agenda

As President Obama prepares to report to the nation on the State of the Union, the Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM) has sent a letter urging him to renew his focus on the challenges and opportunities facing American manufacturers and their workers.  

"American manufacturing is in crisis mode," said AAM Executive Director Scott Paul.  "In his State of the Union address, we're asking the President to announce a comprehensive national manufacturing strategy that can revitalize our industrial base and ensure a wider economic recovery."

AAM's letter to the President outlines five key areas of a national manufacturing strategy that should be delineated in the State of the Union: access to capital; creating demand and promoting manufacturing utilization; workforce development; competitiveness; and, trade deficit reduction.

Paul has also published an article on Huffington Post that details the severity of the challenges facing the U.S. economy and further explains the need for President Obama to galvanize a troubled nation with a new emphasis on restoring domestic industry.

A full copy of the letter to President Obama is available here.

 

Conduct Befitting a Great Power: Responsibility and Sovereignty in US - China Relations

This article was published by the Center for American Progress.

By Nina Hachigian Download this report (pdf)

Download the executive summary (pdf)

Chinese President Hu Jintao arrives in Washington for a state visit later this month, with hopes high in both capitals that his trip may serve to smooth out the edges of a U.S.-China relationship that has frayed over the past year. Clashes over security, the global economy, and differing political values challenge the relationship today. At the heart of many of these disputes are conflicting understandings about how a great power should act in the 21st century.

Washington and Beijing have different conceptions of global responsibility. Washington has spent decades since World War II investing in an international architecture of economic and security accords that delivered stability and enabled China’s growth. Now Washington wants Beijing to play by the rules, help improve the international system, and contribute to solving urgent global problems—many of which China helps to create, among them economic imbalances and global warming.

Pres. Obama and Chinese President Hu Must Seek More Balanced Economic Relations

 

The Alliance for American Manufacturing (AAM) is urging President Obama to raise a number of key economic issues during Chinese President Hu Jintao's official state visit to Washington this Wednesday.  Prior to the meeting, AAM is running ads calling on the President to address specific policies by China that threaten the U.S. position as a leader in the world economy.

AAM Executive Director Scott Paul made the following comments regarding the visit of China's President:

"The United States risks losing its place as the world's leading economy unless we take a firmer stance against China's mercantilist economic practices.  It is critically important for President Obama to tell President Hu that the time has come for a more balanced economic relationship.  Currency manipulation, market-distorting subsidies, and harmful barriers to trade must be eliminated for the benefit of a global economic recovery.

"The President deserves credit for enforcing our trade laws when cheating exists.  However, that commitment will mean little if further progress is not made during this official state visit.  

"American manufacturing companies and their workers will be keenly watching and hoping for progress that will allow us to compete on a level playing field."

Specifically, AAM believes that the Obama-Hu meeting will be a missed opportunity if the following issuesare not addressed in a candid and forthright manner:

China, Bracero Program and Burdens on Working Families at UCLA Institute for Research on Labor and Employment Winter Colloquia Series

IRLE's annual colloquia series brings a number of distinguished scholars to UCLA. This quarter, we are pleased to welcome researchers from China, Brazil, and France in addition to scholars from around the United States and the campus community.   We hope you and your colleagues will join us for these upcoming talks and we encourage you to download the winter colloquia flier and to visit our website for a complete list of  this year's colloquia. You can also stay up-to-date on IRLE activities through our new Facebook  and Twitter   accounts!

Download Flyer

 

January 19: Tamar Kremer-Sadlik, UCLA Center on  Everyday Lives of Families "Work-Family Conflict: A Parent's Problem" 12:30 pm,  Public Affairs 3333 Co-sponsored by the UCLA Center on the Everyday Lives of Families, the UCLA Center for the Study of Women and the UCLA Department of Anthropology.

January 28: Film Screening & Discussion "Harvest of Loneliness: The Bracero Program" Presented by Gilbert Gonzalez, UC Irvine and Vivian Price, CSU Dominguez Hills   12:00 pm, Haines 279 Presented with the UCLA Migration Study Group

February 7: Jian Qiao, Chinese Institute of Industrial Relations  "Toward a Tripartite Labor Relations System with Chinese Characteristics" 12:30 pm, Royce 306 Co-sponsored by the UCLA Center for Chinese Studies, UCLA International Development Studies Program and the Anderson School Center for International Business Education and Research (CIBER)

February 23 •Sim Sang-Jong, New Progressive Party of Korea• “The South Korean Labor Movement: Recent Struggles and the Challenges of ‘Marginal’ Workers” 12:30 - 2:00pm, Public Affairs 3333 Co-sponsored with the UCLA Center for Korean Studies and the UCLA Department of Political Science

March 15 •David Weil, Boston University• ”New National Approaches to Regulating Labor Standards: Implications for Global Labor Standards Systems” Time TBD, UCLA School of Law (Room TBD) Presented with the UCLA Global Labor Standards Program

March 16 •Panel: “Labor Law Enforcement” Andrew Elmore, New York State Office of the Attorney General; Julia Figueira-McDonough, Office of the Los Angeles City Attorney; David Weil, Boston University 12:10 - 1:30pm, UCLA School of Law (Room TBD)  Presented with the UCLA School of Law Public Interest Program

 

Rising to the Challenge: A Progressive US Approach to China's Innovation and Competitiveness Policies

This article was published by the Center for American Progress.

By Kate Gordon , Susan Lyon, Ed Paisley, Sean PoolDownload this report (pdf)

Download the executive summary (pdf)

Read this report at Science Progress

When Chinese president Hu Jintao alights in Washington, D.C. next week for a summit meeting with President Obama, he will learn firsthand that China is fast becoming the touchstone against which everything wrong with the U.S. economy is measured. In the run up to last year’s midterm congressional elections, candidates across the country accused one another of “sending jobs to China” instead of creating jobs at home. Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle regularly promise to seek trade sanctions against China for undervaluing its currency. The United States recently accepted a United Steelworkers petition accusing China of unfairly subsidizing its exports and hoarding raw materials essential for clean energy technology development. And U.S. companies across a range of industries are increasingly voicing their complaints about China’s theft of their intellectual property and the country’s forced transfer of cutting-edge U.S. technology in exchange for access to the nation’s vast and fast-growing domestic market.

2011: Year for the Ingenuity Economy

This article was first published by Science Progress.

By Jonathan Sallet

Our nation’s economic growth and competitiveness in 2011 will top the list of things to worry about among policymakers in Washington. The extension of the Bush-era tax cuts for another two years beginning January 1 means the debate over short-term economic stimulus is, hopefully, behind us. Now the fight over fiscal policy really begins. And the debate will focus on how to put our fiscal house in order, not whether we need to do so, which in turn means the term “investment” will be politically loaded—and hotly debated. After all, investment to some means future growth but to others is just federal pork to be cut or blocked.

So let’s delineate what meaningful investment is all about. To do so, investment should be paired with another “I” word: innovation. President Barack Obama’s State of the Union speech and his administration’s expected reiteration of its innovation policy next month will surely focus on economic growth and competitiveness, as will the president’s Fiscal Year 2012 budget, which begins October 1, 2011. And the key to the success of the president’s policy objectives will be how innovation powers our economy and our global competitiveness.

'Tis the Season to Manufacture: Why 'Made in America' is the Gift that Keeps on Giving

This article was published by the Center for American Progress.

By Kate Gordon , Bracken Hendricks, Lisbeth Kaufman 

‘Tis the holiday season, when Santa’s workshop hums with elfin activity. But what about America’s workshop? Now is the perfect time to reflect on the state of America’s manufacturing sector, and our prospects for economic recovery if we lose the ability to make things here at home.

We have come to expect that the lion’s share of the toys under our Christmas trees will say made-in-China. But is it also inevitable that in a globalized economy, the United States should cede its place as a leading manufacturer? We think not. Our nation’s manufacturing base not only provides jobs, wages, and economic security for the middle class but also drives the process of economic innovation that is essential for our overall competitiveness. Manufacturing truly is the gift that keeps on giving, through new ideas about how to make things better, resulting in new jobs and new companies that can compete ever more effectively in global markets.

So we offer here our “holiday wish list” for American workers to preserve an innovation-led economy that makes stuff and creates good jobs here at home, with a focus on building a strong clean-technology sector.

What Bernie Said, Part 2

by: William Rivers Pitt, t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed

As Congressional Republicans and the White House wrangle over the relative merits of exploding the deficit by giving hundreds of billions of dollars in tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires who don't need the money, the real world they appear to know nothing about plods drearily on. AUSA Today story from Wednesday reported:

U.S. Postal Service workers who handle letters addressed to Santa at the North Pole say more letters ask for basics - coats, socks and shoes - rather than Barbie dolls, video games and computers. At New York City's main post office, Head Elf Pete Fontana and 22 staff elves will sort 2 million letters in Operation Santa, which connects needy children with "Secret Santas" who answer their wishes.

Fontana, a customer relations coordinator for the Postal Service, has been head elf for 15 years. "The need is greater this year than I've ever seen it," he says. "One little girl didn't want anything for herself. She wanted a winter coat for her mother."

Cesar, 7, wrote for himself and his baby sister. "This year my mom don't have much money to spend on Christmas gifts so I'm writing to you," Cesar told Santa. "It would make us very happy if you and your elves would bring us toys and clothes." One mom sent a turn-off notice from the electric company, Fontana says.

Melanney, 9, asked Santa for a coat and boots. "I have been a very good girl this year," she wrote.

Puts things in perspective, don't you think?

A Focus on Competitiveness: Restructuring Policymaking for Results

by John Podesta, Sarah Rosen Wartell, Jitinder Kohli

This article was published by the Center for American Progress.

Through December 10, the Center for American Progress will post daily commentaries from prominent industry, labor, and political leaders on what the federal government should do to ensure the success of U.S. businesses and workers amid unprecedented global competition. We invite you to visit our competitiveness blog each day, comment on the articles, and join a spirited online discussion that could help to shape the Center's policy agenda.

Read the full report (pdf)

Download the executive summary (pdf)

Download the report to mobile devices and e-readers from Scribd

Event: The Need for a U.S. Competitiveness Strategy

U.S. policymakers face the extraordinary challenge of restoring a recession-ravaged economy while simultaneously re-engineering it to thrive in a world of unprecedented global competition. Their recent focus by necessity has been on responding to record high levels of unemployment, repairing the financial system architecture, finding a path toward fiscal balance, and rebuilding the crumbled pillars of the economy.

Now our nation must turn to building on this new foundation a competitive 21st-century American economy in a thriving global market. We need a common, long-term strategy to ensure that American firms find more global investors and customers, that more jobs are created in the United States, and that workers here and around the world enjoy a rising standard of living.

Let's Rise to the Challenge on Labor Standards

Obama Administration Takes Action on Labor Standards in Trade Agreements

This article was published by the Center for American Progress. on August 3, 2010.

By Sabina Dewan

U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis and Trade Representative Ron Kirk sent a message on Friday that the Obama administration is serious about enforcing the labor provisions in our trade agreements. They announced that the administration plans to pursue consultations with the Guatemalan government under the labor chapter of the Dominican Republic-Central America-United States Free Trade Agreement, or CAFTA-DR. This is the first time ever that the United States has brought a labor case against a trade agreement partner, and it comes after an extensive Labor Department investigation that found violations of worker’s rights to organize and bargain collectively, as well as poor workplace conditions.

Effective enforcement of labor standards is not only a moral imperative but also an economic imperative. Our own economic progress depends on making sure that our trading partners abide by the labor laws on their books. Enforcement ensures that American workers can compete on a level playing field; that developing countries continue to develop in a just and sustainable way, opening up more markets for American goods and services; and that corporations and the public sector can share the burden of raising labor standards.

Export Strengths Underlie Lagging Economy

This article was published by the Center for American Progress.

By Sabina Dewan, Christian E. Weller

A flurry of recent and seemingly bad economic news masks an important development under the surface—signs that private-sector momentum in the United States is fundamentally sound due in large part to the continued growth in U.S. exports.

The most recent piece of economic data came out late last week from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, which revised down its estimate of economic growth for the second quarter. The economy expanded more slowly than previously thought in large measure because of a sharper jump in U.S. imports than the BEA had previously expected. Yet largely overlooked in the BEA report is that U.S. exports expanded by an annualized, inflation-adjusted 9.1 percent in the second quarter. This happened amid domestic economic troubles across parts of Europe and reined in stimulus spending in China.

The challenge for U.S. policymakers now is to protect this private-sector export momentum while overcoming the clear obstacles such as rising U.S. imports. U.S. exports have been an important contributing factor to the fledgling economic recovery, and last week’s data show the continued relevance and strength of U.S. exports, especially from the manufacturing sector. U.S. exports have grown at substantial rates for four quarters in a row now.

From Bangladesh to You: How A Crackdown on Worker Protests in Dhaka Hurts the U.S. Economy

This article was published by the Center for American Progress.

By Sabina Dewan

Bangladesh is more than a day away by plane, on a different continent, on the other side of the globe. Why should Americans care that Bangladeshi workers are taking to the streets in violent protest over their low wages? Why should we care about the persecution of labor leaders in Bangladesh? Beyond fundamental human rights considerations, we should care because ensuring "just jobs"—jobs commensurate with decent wages, labor rights, and good working conditions in developing countries such as Bangladesh—is in the hard-nosed economic self-interest of the United States.

This is why the House International Worker Rights Caucus, led by Reps. Phil Hare (D-IL) and Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) wrote a letter to six major companies calling on them to take a stand against the recent persecution of labor leaders in Bangladesh. The six companies—JC Penny, Wal-Mart, SEARS/Kmart, VF Corporation, Cintas Corporation, and H&M—are major purchasers of apparel from factory owners in Bangladesh. These companies must take a stand against the arrest of these labor leaders, but Congress also should continue to forge ahead forcefully in seeking to improve the lives of workers in Bangladesh and elsewhere in the developing world.