Obama delivers ‘a mixed bag’ lacking specifics

President Obama Tuesday night delivered his fourth State of the Union address.  In his speech to a joint session of Congress, the President laid out a broad framework for reigniting the economy in which, he said, "too many people still can’t find full-time employment."

President Obama's State of the Union speech from the official White House website.

The themes of the speech hearkened back to his reelection campaign -- especially his emphasis on reducing the unemployment rate and reviving an economy “that creates good, middle-class jobs." The President proposed a "Fix-It-First" program, with the goal of creating jobs, including many in the steel industry, to repair and upgrade infrastructure in the U.S.

"Investments in surface transportation and water infrastructure directly impact the competitiveness of the manufacturing sector, create demand for steel fabricated products and create valuable jobs, said Thomas J. Gibson, president and CEO of the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI).

AISI Commends Our Nation's Veterans for Their Service

Steel industry remains vital to national security

Washington, D.C. — In honor of Veterans Day, The American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI) commend our nation’s veterans – both past and present - for their service at home and abroad.

San Francisco Invites Chinese Solar Companies as U.S. Companies Fail

By Peter Navarro

(Republished from the SFGate.com - Published 7:53 p.m., Tuesday, October 23, 2012)

San Francisco is rapidly becoming, as the Office of the Mayor's website has touted, the "premier gateway" for mainland Chinese investment into the United States. If the city's successful wooing of Chinese solar manufacturers is any indication, this is not a welcome trend.

To date, under the leadership of both its previous and current mayor, no fewer than five Chinese solar companies have set up shop on San Francisco soil. This has occurred even as Bay Area solar manufacturers have either filed for bankruptcy (NovaSolar); shrunk in value to a mere shadow of their former selves (NanoSolar); or, in the unkindest cut of all, been sold off to China (MiaSole).

China’s Currency Manipulation: A Policy Debate

By Peter Navarro

Republished from the September/October 2012 issue of WorldAffairsJournal.org

Confront China Now

In 2001, under the banner of a “policy of engagement” dating back to the Nixon era, China joined the World Trade Organization with the strong support of a Democratic president and a Republican-controlled Congress. Before the ink was dry on this free-trade agreement, Beijing began flooding American markets with illegally subsidized exports while the big multinational companies that had lobbied heavily for the agreement rapidly accelerated the offshoring of American factories and jobs to China.

Today, the United States owes more than three trillion dollars to the world’s largest communist nation; more than fifty thousand American factories have disappeared; worker and human rights abuses are endemic in a country that is also now the most polluted on the planet; and the People’s Liberation Army is engaging in the most rapid military build up of a totalitarian regime since the 1930s.

AISI urges Members of the U.S. House of Representatives to support H.R. 3409, the "Stop the War on Coal Act of 2012"

By Thomas Gibson, President and CEO, American Iron and Steel Institute

The availability and reliability of coal is essential to the international competitiveness of the domestic steel industry. In addition to being an essential raw material for the creation of steel, coal also serves as a critical source of energy for the industry, both through direct combustion and as a feedstock for purchased electricity from utilities. In 2010, the domestic steel industry consumed 19.8 million tons of coal and coke and 45.7 billion kilowatt hours of electricity.  The leading states in terms of iron and steel production in the U.S. are heavily dependent on coal for electricity production, and in turn, so is our industry.

New Report on Risks to Homeland Security Calls for Revitalizing American Manufacturing to Protect, Respond and Recover

A new report, Preparing for 21st Century Risks, co-authored by former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge and former Assistant Secretary for Homeland Security Robert B. Stephan, found that many key components and technologies supporting critical infrastructure are no longer manufactured in the United States.

As the Executive Summary notes, "We (America) are becoming too reliant on global suppliers, many of whom may not have our best interests at heart in a time of crisis"…

U.S. Steel Industry Driving the American Manufacturing Renaissance

A recently released study titled, “Economic Impacts of the American Steel Industry,” conducted by Dr. Timothy J. Considine, SER Professor of Energy Economics at the University of Wyoming reveals that the U.S. steel industry is helping lead our nation’s manufacturing post-recession resurgence by supporting more than one million U.S. jobs and adding billions of dollars to the economy. 

Dr. Considine points out that, “Since steel is the most prevalent material in our economy, the steel industry is highly interrelated with other economic sectors, as reflected in the ripple effect on employment.”  In order to continue the revival of our nation’s manufacturing sector, we must continue to be proactive in these three issue areas: transportation, trade and energy.   

We must make rebuilding our crumbling transportation infrastructure system a top national priority.  It is essential to be able to do business efficiently within our own borders in order to maintain our dominant role in the global economy.  We urge Congress to pass a multi-year, fully funded surface transportation bill before the current extension expires later this month.

Secondly, it is critical that the Obama Administration and Congress continue to pressure foreign governments that continue to artificially undervalue its currency.  We cannot give a free pass to countries that flagrantly disregard their World Trade Organization commitments. 

Lastly, we must develop our domestic energy sources, both on- and off-shore.  By developing our natural gas and oil reserves, our nation can lessen its dependency on foreign oil, create thousands of jobs and spur economic growth.  However, one of the biggest threats to developing our nation’s domestic energy sources is overly burdensome and misguided federal regulations.  Excessive and misguided regulations could stifle the burgeoning manufacturing renaissance that the steel industry is leading. 

As the report reaffirms, our nation’s steel industry, which operates over 100 facilities, is helping drive this post-recession manufacturing Renaissance.  Yet, our success could be impeded by inaction in these three crucial policy areas.  We must work together to ensure that our manufacturing sector will be able to continue to thrive.  

-AISI President and CEO Thomas J. Gibson