Make things in america and help you understand the personal connection to it. If you have questions, call us. Independence, 202748 8002. If you work in the manufacturing industry, give us your thoughts to. Lets look at the trailer. U. S. Steel corporation is announcing is permanently closing you, as an economy, get rid of your manufacturing, its cataclysmic. You have a domino effect. I all he said our motto was, you dream it, we build it. We lost a job. Within the United States, it somebody i all he said a overse. Year 2000 we lost about 5. 5 Million Manufacturing jobs. That is the backbone that cause this incredible unemployment. Im almost 50 years old. All i know is this. Making things is important. Things that has always been great about america is america. Its Good Business to invest in your community. We also fundamentally believe that making faces important to the longterm health of this country. We are making more sales, we are making more partnerships. About believing in something. What if you fail . That is not an option. Talk about the involvement you play into this. We try to connect the idea of a menu can American Manufacturing with policy. It really matters. Manufacturing was the canary in the coal run that in the coal mine. Movie insaw in this many ways was a prequel to some of the anger you saw play out in the last election. There are many communities who feel like they have been left behind. And that policy has left them behind as well. But this is something we know how to do. We know how to make things in this country. It is a core competency of the United States. And there are a lot of folks who want to do it, who are entrepreneurs or workers or who were holding on and realizing how important it is for their community. And they are fighting for that. They are fighting for a chance, a level Playing Field and an opportunity. The movie did a really good job of bringing stories from places you like to forget about the forget about, like buffalo and detroit and elsewhere, into the living rooms of people who might have lost touch. Host Vincent Vittorio, we cant hear all of the stories do what is one that sticks out . Guest new balance speakers. I am wearing some right now. We have people in america who are making shoes. When you see people who take pride in putting these together and seeing a company and the new a company in the new england area that is doing great things, it makes you feel like other people could be doing this. Looking at the bottom line, trying to put things together with employing people in the communities and the Ripple Effect that it has. Host we talk about manufacturing, for people who work at new balance, do they understand what happens in washington and how it affects them . Guest every decision being made has an impact. Whether it is an incentive for another company or or the tariffs that are not put in place which is causing harder competition for them. They keep a close eye and those Companies Work with think tanks and nonprofits to make sure they are on the right side of the agenda and understanding how it is going to impact them in the future. Host mr. Paul, you speak and work with the heads of the companies. Guest i think there is a split because they have heard this so often. There is a lot of politicians who say they will be there for manufacturing. And then when the tough decisions have to be made, about trade policy or at the type of Education System you have to provide a pipeline and vocational education, it gets tougher. And there are tradeoffs. So i think there are some folks out there in the Manufacturing Committee that have written washington off. Saying there is nothing they can do that can make a difference. And i think there are others and new balance is a great example where trade policy matters. If tpp had gone into effect, it would have wiped out the last couple of mills. It really does matter and it makes a difference. You can see that. The movie was being made, we were bleeding manufacturing jobs but we have run a little more solid footing now. But what we lack at the rest of the world has is the Manufacturing Policy that puts that sector front and center of the economic policy. Host is the solid footing a natural occurrence or part of the decisions made by the Previous Administration . Or maybe the Current Administration . Guest part of it was the Auto Industry. We have a strong Auto Industry in no small part due to the rescue. Part of it is the economic recovery, we are not freefalling now. But even in an age of automation, ifnd we are given a chance, we can add manufacturing jobs. We know how to do things. I was just talking to someone who has brought back sleeping bag production to alabama. So it is possible to do this but it takes visionary entrepreneurs and it does take Public Policy that will give folks a real chance, so that our workers arent competing against . 20 an hour labor. Host besides sneakers, what other industries did you talk to . Guest we talked to viking appliances which is now a publicly traded company so it is not the same story but it does show the impact a local Business Owner can have with the community so it holds true for other companies out there who are doing things in america. And the third one is more andle, who lost everything to business overseas but was able to bring it back. He believed in the community in the country to support him. Host again, our guests are scott paul from the alliance of American Manufacturing and the American Made movie, Vincent Vittorio. Theamericanmademovie. Com is where you can find more information. Joy, you are the first call for our guests. Caller i think there is a big lie going around about it is either tax burden or payroll. I worked for a company in oceanside, california, a Large Company that made Power Supplies and i asked the ceo what was the biggest burden and he said payroll. I also worked for the largest a tac Plumbing Company in las vegas and the ceo of that company said the same thing. I believe companies are moving overseas because of payroll, not tax burdens. I would like your opinion. Guest a good question. Every company is a little bit different. In some cases, energy costs are the primary cost driver. In others, labor costs. While United States, our tax code isnt perfect, if you look at the overall tax burden of many of our companies, it is comparably lower. We have a different system where we dont have value added taxes. We dont tax imports coming in and we dont rebate exports going out and that sets us apart from almost the rest of the industrialized world but the current tax debate doesnt address that at all. Its not going to get that issue. If you look at a lot of the costs with respect to labor and the loss of intellectual property and the fact that other countries i point out china have National Government policies that they are trying to attract that kind of manufacturing and they are favoring their own firms, that tilts the Playing Field away from our folks. So we are talking about a trade policy that is reciprocal. Ensuring that we are not undercut by lower labor costs that are artificially low. And that generally, we have a fair chance to compete. Because a lot of the folks that vincent talked about in the movie on a level Playing Field will be able to add jobs. Host lets go to mike in richmond, virginia. Mike . Lets go to donna. Carolina. Lem, north go ahead. Caller, go ahead, please. Caller can you hear me . Host yes, go ahead. You are on, go ahead, please. Caller i live in winstonsalem but i am originally from flint, michigan. I worked in the Auto Industry in flint, michigan. Can you hear me . Host yes, you are on. Caller i want to say that i appreciate the guys that made this movie because Michael Moores movie made an impact on the industry. And flint itself. The resources that are there in those cities are being quickly torn down. And the buildings that manufacturers could have easily come into and taken over, they are being destroyed. What do you have to say about that . Host Vincent Vittorio, anything relating to your film . Guest going there the first time, it is mind blowing to see this amount of land and huge facilities that look like an apocalyptic ruin. It is really sad. But at the same time, the infrastructure is there and restoring it and trying to do something with it could be worthwhile but it is hard when you are attracting a new leg of manufacturing or growth of something to restore an area like that, specifically detroit. But i think the story does do a good job of showing how what happened to detroit and how it could make a recovery but it will never be what it was in the early days. Host dave in morgan hill, california. On the independent line. Caller what is important in all of this is that when people buy something made in america, they look at the made in america tags. If you look at the tpp, they try to get the country of origin taken off a product and i think that is important so people can make a decision as to what is best for the country when buying products. Host mr. Paul . Guest i wholeheartedly agree. That transparency is important. And while price will also be a factor, knowing where and how it was produced can make a big difference and unfortunately, the caller is right. We are entering into some agreements that erode our ability to properly label food products, as well as merchandise. So if you are shopping in person at a store, you can find the label, if you know where to look. If you are shopping online, it can be extraordinarily difficult. It is very hard to find. There isnt a steady requirement that you have to do that. So i favor an upgrade in the labeling laws. I think a consumers right to know should be the primary interest here. Host Vincent Vittorio, did you talk to those about the importance of what is being made overseas . What is the response . Guest definitely. We have paco underhill, who is looking at the way businesses work and the way we shop. He gets into the psychology of this. And it comes into the realization that if something is made in america or overseas but you will pay more money for it, consumers will support that. Which is the theme of our movie. We have the ability to put the money behind what we believe in. And it isnt necessarily an American Made products. It is the local community. Or even seeing what is in our backyard and seeing that we can support it. It will take a long time to have the true impact but at the end of the day, if we have a Company Spending millions of dollars for a celebrity to endorse their product and they know that making things in america is as sexy as lebron james, companies will get behind that. And they will see that it isnt only a value to our country and community but it will help them have a competitive advantage. Host angelo in new orleans, democrats line. Go ahead. Caller thank you for cspan. How can you profess what manufacturing when you have four states that just lowered you have Companies Like walmart, a Pizza Company where the owner just bought a 15 million mansion and he doesnt pay his employees a livable wage where they are forced to get food stamps and subsidies from the government . How can you justify ceos or manufacturers making tons more than what they used to make . They dont want to pay livable wage. Do you know why . Vietnam just doubled their wage, they went from . 50 an hour to one dollar an hour. Host thank you. Guest i think that kind of disparity is important. I would be remiss if i didnt point out that in manufacturing, the wages for average workers are 20 higher than in the rest of the private sector so they is actually a premium for the manufacturing jobs. And you can find examples of excess ceo compensation but i think they are more prevalent in the Financial Services and a lot of companies in the United States realized that the way they will compete is not a race to the bottom. We will not beat vietnam or bangladesh in wages. We dont want to do that. But if you invest in workers and invest in their skills, we will be more efficient and productive and stable. And ultimately, that is an important factor. So manufacturing wages, this is particularly important for men and women who dont have a four Year College Degree it is one of the few remaining paths to achieving the american dream. So that is why both vincent and i are such proponents of this sector in the economy because there really is no substitute. From new york, republican line, youre on with our guest. Very interesting segue. You spoke about something i want to bring up. Students in twoyear and fouryear universities are close to an alltime high. How does the manufacturing stereotypedress the or belief that students with Higher Education are looking to going to jobs that are specifically in manufacturing. Because they have the expectations that their degree will earn them some kind of income and employment easement and also the filmmaker, did you run into any of these issues when you were going through interviewing people and learning their stories . Guest michael in your home state of new york, theres a great example of this with ptech, it was a partnership that was formed with ibm and the school system, it started in brooklyn, one school. Since then it expanded throughout the state to other states and other countries, and it is really about connecting Workforce Development for kids at an earlier age. We go into the idea that kids finish high school, theyre looking at what college they want to go to, put all this investment in student debt, whatever it is, get this piece of paper and that piece of paper doesnt mean what it meant 15 or 20 years ago. Ultimately we have to be connected to Workforce Development, apprenticeships interning, doing things, that is the future of this, to get kids to realize that there are liveable wage necessary manufacturing, manufacturing isnt dark and dirty, its a much different world than it was before and we need to embrace that as leaders in our communities and understanding the importance of education. Host mr. Paul, if that is true, what are wages were talking about if they choose trade schools or some other way besides college . Guest it is possible, steelworkers program, if you complete basically two years of posthigh School Education and a lot of that is handson trading like welding or learning electrical circuits, you can make a starting salary at 70,000 which in these areas of the country is a very good family supporting wage. But again, overall, with something between a high school and a college certificate, youre going to get a wage premium that is 20 better than the rest of the private sector. It is worth pointing out, though, in the 50s and 60s, kids go straight from high school into manufacturing and you could have a career in manufacturing with a pension. Now those jobs are vanishing, if not gone altogether. You do need an additional credential, but with that, yeah, you dont need four years of college debt and you can provide for your family, you can save for retirement, have a good healthcare plan, it is entirely possible to do that if we find pipelines, create them in high school and Technical College and if we have a Robust Manufacturing environment, where were adding jobs rather than seeing them go offshore. Host from maine, hes in manufacturing. Go ahead. Caller yes, thank god for cspan, im totally addicted. I wanted to talk about, retired from manufacturing 36 years and it was a month, all drilled into our heads over those years, safety, quality, schedule, cost. We would say we wanted to safely produce a quality product on time at the lowest cost. I wonder if the panelist can talk about how metrics portray it to other organizations, especially congress . Guest you know, toyota really started that model and i think that it was replicated and refined into something that really helped to start the concept through manufacturing to the distribution of something. Youre right, you know, those are great things, keeping it safe, being slim in manufacturing to make sure youre not wasteful with the product and helping to reach consumer with a quality product, something america always looked great at. Scott and i talked before, it is important that outside of just helping people in our country, we have this idea, the brand, what it means to make thing in america. New balance, an example, a lot of shoes overseas made in america, there is demand for americanmade shoes, which is mind blowing to me. Anything to add . Guest i would add, i dont know what will get congress to change. Weve tried a couple different ways and weve been unsuccessful. At the alliance, we work with labor and business and oftentimes on the factory floor, there can be differences, as you know and others know, you have collaboration between management and workers, you can get a lot of stuff done and i think listening to their voice is important. When we go into offices, we can have a corporate c. E. O. , Labor Union President , and they it defies stereotype and were able to make progress that way. That might show, at least a green shoot of hope on how to get more things done. Host the debate over the tax bill in the house and senate side, potential of holding of