Commerce secretary sees manufacturing looking up

One of the good things about National Manufacturing Week is they always seem to bring in some solid government officials that can talk about manufacturing policies.
This year was no exception as Secretary of Commerce Carlos Gutierrez gave a keynote address Tuesday talking about the strength of manufacturing in the United States.
“We start from a position of strength. There is nothing out there growing as fast. Our unemployment rate is 4.8%,” he said.
That percentage, he said, is better than Canada, Italy, Germany and France.
“Over the past 2 ½ years the economy has added nearly 5 million jobs,” Gutierrez said. “That is more than Japan and the 25 nations of the European Communion combined.”
While all of that looks good, there is a point where U.S. manufacturers have to look over their shoulders because the competition can catch up to them.
"When the Berlin wall went down, we gained 3 billion new consumers but also 3 billion new competitors."
There seems to be a way of thinking that we can wall off our economy and live our normal lives, Gutierrez said, but “just because it is getting competitive our there, it does not mean we can take the ball and go home.”
Gutierrez gave a good talk and painted a rosy picture for the U.S. manufacturing sector. We will have to see how manufacturers respond.