"What will it take, what will it really take, to
start adding 50,000, 100,000 or 200,000 jobs each month,"
International President Tom Buffenbarger asked a room full of
experts earlier this year. Their answers may shock you.The
economists and policy wizards who gathered for a two-day
conference entitled the Next North American Expansion came from
all points on the political compass.
Corporate executives mingled with ivory tower academics.
Conservative think tank types traded ideas with researchers with
strong ties to organized labor.
Each came to IAM Headquarters with impressive credentials and
practical ideas for resolving the jobs crisis that confronts
Canada and the United States.
Was there one right policy? Not at all.
There was, however, almost total agreement that what ails our
economy will not be cured by tax cuts alone. The economic
stimulus packages Ð the Bush Administration's proposal and the
paler alternatives offered by Democrats are too narrowly drawn
to combat this jobs crisis.
Nor do those competing plans recognize that, given the levels
of employment in key manufacturing sectors, primary metals down
19.1 percent, industrial machinery down 19.2 percent, aerospace
down 25.5 percent Ð levels not seen since the Great Depression,
we are fast losing the critical mass needed to sustain this
vital sector.
What is needed, the experts said, is a much broader, a much
bolder initiative, one that uses all the tools at our disposal
to re-ignite this economy.
