Hickory, N.C.: How One Town Has Been Ravaged By Globalization

HICKORY, N.C. -- The expansion of global trade may enrich the United States, as economists say, but it has overwhelmed this manufacturing area beside the Blue Ridge Mountains.

The region has lost more of its jobs to international competition than just about anywhere else in the nation, according to federal trade-assistance statistics, as textile mills have closed, furniture factories have dwindled and even the fiber-optic plants have undergone mass layoffs. The unemployment rate is one of the highest in the nation -- about 15 percent.

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Comments

[mamalisa38]

Senator Sherrod Brown, D. Ohio, has a sign on his desk that says it all: NAFTA + CAFTA = SHAFTA.

[NoMoreBail2]

No more bailouts for too big to fail. NO more stupid tax cuts and other gimmicks. Need more jobs, affordable education & heath care.

good articles; http://financeopinionss.blogspot.com

[marijam]

Pray for peak oil and for gasoline prices to go up to $4 per gallon again. This will make imports so costly that manufacturing will have to come back on shores.

[josephXY]

And all this while watching TV? What the experts were saying on TV while all this outsourcing
happened:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2I0QN-FYkpw

[Gates trades]

Tired of boring news?

better news: http://financeopinions.blogspot.com

[JoeBlough]

I thought North Carolina had some of the best Congressmen in the country. Why did these politicians sell out their own state? Jobs are a regional issue that they should have taken care of.

[marijam]

The Congressmen in North Carolina are Republicans, but it wouldn't matter if they weren't. Democrats want all nations to be equal in wage rates to bring other nations up, but we have to go down in wages - and we are, unfortunately. The liberals wanted to help the poor in other nations, the Republicans originally wanted to "help our own first", but once they figured out that it would break the back of all labor here in the states, union or not, they went for it like it was religion. Truth be told, there's no such thing as free trade or free markets. If people want their country back, they're going to have to force their representatives to turn back NAFTA. Some voted for Obama thinking that he would renegotiate NAFTA and then we'd see jobs returning. How's that working out? Not that it would've made any difference to NAFTA if McCain had gotten elected.

[christimarie]

We need to put tariffs on all imports from countries that do not have the same labor and environmental laws as we do. Our government allowed the old time Robber Barons to move the factories from the US to any third world country where their products could be made with slave labor, and then allowed these Robber Baron corporations to import this crap into the US with impunity. Unfortunately too many of our congressmen are tied to these imports and international corporations. They do not represent the people of the United States.

[rascalov]

Superb comment. Thank you.

[sposton]

"The expansion of global trade may enrich the United States, as economists say..."

How can anyone in good conscience say anything like that? It is not just this town that is suffering - it is the whole country! A few multinational do not make the United States even if our government does everything they want. The US of A should still mean the People of this country.

[RedneckDem]

The sickest part of this entire deal is that we willingly purchase this stuff from China without even thinking of the consequences. If we just enacted the same trade rules as China puts on our imports, we could bring back several million jobs.

Couldn't we have figured out a means to teach and grow China's economy based upon servicing their own 1 billion plus population without sacrificing our economy? A long steady growth instead of a bubble plagued short term massive growth spurt that will leave the entire world poorer.

[Realization]

Right on but add mirror image trade policies for Japan and Korea, and the EU.

The game elsewhere is to obtain all the tech and knowhow you can, produce yourself for the domestic market importing only things not worth producing for one reason or other and raw materials. All value added is kept at home. Note Japan and wood products. They buy logs here. Same across the board.

And we let the competition operate from domestic sanctuaries and freely compete here for generations. What is happening was quite predictable.

No country but the U.S. has much debate about whether it it ok to run a trade deficit. They aren't that stupid. It's not ok.

[DemocratCongress]

Can congress & Obama stop the backpedaling on wall street compensation?

good articles; http://financeopinionss.blogspot.com

where is the reform?

[LHoney]

Keep voting republican and just pray harder!

[Haditup2here]

Although NC has voted republican in the past, NC actually went Blue this past election. The state government is also headed by Democrats.

[christimarie]

This trade situation is the reason I did NOT vote Republican in the last election. Bush's pals loved the situation that occurred. My congressman, Bilbray (R), wrote me in an email that China was a valuable trading partner. Sorry, Bilbray, China is a trading abuser. Congressman Issa (R) from a neighboring district made millions having car alarms made in Asia and them imported. The Republicans are tied to the big International Corporations.

[condor101]

Yup, our government and corporate america did a number on the american people with that NAFTA.
How does that Free Trade feel now?
Oh, yeah, we can get cheap stuff at walmart.
Everything imported from China is just fine and dandy for America, right?
It's great for the international corporations that import and sell the stuff here.

Oh, well, the wealth of the majority of americans is in a spiral downward.
The rich will get richer and the poor will get poorer.

My advice: Screw corporate america
Refuse
Reduce
Reuse
Recycle

[sonofsamphm1c]

It was that way in the 1970s. My Uncle was a Professor at the School of Textiles, NC State. A large number of his students were from asia. The state of North Carolina educated the men who would eventually move their textile industry to asia.

[vippy]

How about 30%. The furniture manufacturing just about disappeared. I have been in contact with people from North Carolina and the whole state is in dire shape. Where on earth do they get those
fictitious numbers. There is not one job to be had in North Carolina!

[dadw5boys]

Won't a tax cut help ? lol