Fallacy to Favor Manufacturing Jobs Versus Service Jobs, Podcast Says

May 17, 2012 - PRLog -- PHILADELPHIA - PA.   (May 17, 2012) The United States started as an agricultural economy, turned into an industrial power, and is now an information and service economy.  And that's not a bad thing, according to a recent episode of the My History Can Beat Up Your Politics podcast.

The program noted that countries that have  rich economies are on average 66% service, low income countries are 33% service 38% manufacturing on average, according to World Bank numbers.  

"Alexander Hamilton pushed the nation to improve manufacturing because It used to be that the rich countries in the world were the ones with the iron works, and in 1791 that meant Great Britain " said Bruce Carlson, host of the program.  "That's no longer the case in Britain, it's no longer true in the United States or the rest of the world, but the emotional connection to manufacturing persists."

The podcast points that the US economy was more than a quarter manufacturing In Harry Truman's time and is somewhere near 15 percent now.  But if that meant the nation was getting poorer, our history would be a declining GDP and according to the podcast citing Bureau of Economic Analysis numbers, it hasn't been - the economy was 244 billion in Harry Truman's time and is 14 trillion today and on a per capita basis -   9,561 to 41,000

The podcast points out that the trend  towards service is reflected in the powerful economies of the world.  Germany  went from 35 percent service in 1970 to 19 percent now.  The world went from 27 manufacturing to 15 percent today.  

While the podcast says it would be fallacy to single out manufacturing jobs and stimulate them, especially where today's manufacturing operations employ less people, at the extremes of a service economy, the podcast does bring up some questions.

"You can ask how far can we go, is there a point where we get to 2% manufacturing, or zero." said Carlson.  "Is that a point where we have to protect and defend it with policy like we do with our nation's farms?"

'My History Can Beat Up Your Politics' delves into the history behind today's political issues, the podcast can be obtained at http://www.myhistorycanbeatupyourpolitics.com