 President Barack Obama sits in the cockpit of a 787 Dreamliner during his tour of the Boeing Plant production facility in Everett, Washington on February 17. In Washington he announced new import/export initiatives to make it easier for U.S. manufacturers to sell their products overseas. Today, the president will announce more new manufacturing proposals.
March 9th, 2012
10:18 AM ET
President to Announce New Manufacturing Initiative In Virginia today President Obama will unveil new manufacturing initiatives during a visit to the Rolls Royce Crosspointe jet engine disc factory. According to a fact sheet put out by the White House, the president will call for a “National Network for Manufacturing Innovation,” which it says will help up to 15 manufacturing “Institutes” to foster innovation around the country. The president’s budget calls for $1 billion to create the new network, but in the meantime the administration plans to use $45 million from the Departments of Defense, Energy, and Commerce and the National Science Foundation to create a pilot institute. Obama has made manufacturing a central part of his economic proposals in recent months, and in doing so his administration has repeatedly highlighted the recent success the industry has had creating new jobs. Here’s how the White House describes its latest initiative:
|
  |
 |
|||
|
|
|
||||
We don't need another Billion to invent another Solendra. All we need is the Federal Government to get out of the way and let nature take it's course. Free Enterprise will floursh just fine.
Agreed! I will use my old example. The government is propping up the Volt, which is hybrid technology. Yet it is having issues that other companies that are using hydrid technology, like Nissan, Toyota, Lexus, and Ford don't appear to be having. I don't recall reading where the government is propping up these companies with a $10,000 rebate! Yet the100% electic Nissan Leaf appears to be rolling along just fine AND without government interference!
I think the government is pushing too hard and too fast. American ingenuity will work this out in time! But it will take time! Simply put and IMO the Volt hit the market too soon!
I'm looking for where car technology is discussed in the article above? It is good to know the President is putting a focus on America building things here. We need to keep our manufacturing base and we need to improve upon it, and add new items we can manufacture here...not China, Mexico, or India.
This from U.S. News Best Cars.Other Cars to Consider
"As you cross-shop fuel-efficient cars, add the Toyota Prius Plug-in to your list. The Prius Plug-in is a new Prius model, and like the Volt, owners can recharge its battery at home. The Prius Plug-in gets better fuel economy in gas/hybrid mode, but the Volt operates more efficiently on electric power alone. The Volt also has a longer electric-only range of 35 miles, which is more than twice as far as the Prius Plug-in’s 15-mile range. The Prius Plug-in can be recharged in about three hours using a standard 120-volt outlet, which is much faster than the Volt’s 10-to-12-hour charging time using a standard outlet.
The Nissan Leaf is another car to consider if you’re shopping for a pure electric vehicle. However, the Leaf’s range is limited to 100 miles. Once the battery dies, there’s no back-up gas engine to keep the car going. This makes the Leaf ideal for drivers looking for a car for shorter commutes. Unlike the Volt, the Leaf can’t handle longer road trips though."
Jean2009,
The is manufacturing, right? Okay then how many Volts are currently being manufactured? None because Chevy shut down production and temp laid off 1300 because they have too many sitting around! Even with a hard government push and a $10,000 rebate not many seem to be interested in it
My post was in response to the poster above me! The subject was manufacturing and the government! That is why I said what I did ! Speaking manufacturing, isn't our job czar moving a manufacturing plant from Wisconsin to China? Is it not the height of irony that while the President is offering incentives for folks to move back, Jeff Immelt is moving a GE division out? The AMERICAN JOB CZAR! Shouldn't he be the example, since he is the AMERICAN JOB CZAR? Maybe he should just resign from that post!
***The topic is****
Having nature take it's course is the same as saying "Let the strongest survive". If we look at the alternatives of tomorrow with the eyes of today, such thinking sound absolutely right. However, the human civilisation is a highly complex construction that requires responsibility not only to the present, but also to the future. You might not be aware of it, but having nature take it's course, is the same as saying "Let us make the best of today, and let others care about the future". Such darwinistic approach to the problem will only lead to unnecessary suffering.
We have an obligation to the future generations, and that is why governmental incentives is important, as long as they are used to kick the free markets into a new and better direction. That's all they should be used for. No more, no less.
Speaking of future generations, how about all the debt they get to deal with?
Joey:
I agree that the dept is a problem, but it would have been a problem even without the bailout. In the end the average american would have paid the dept no matter what, and without a doubt the economy would have been thrown into complete dissaray without the bailout.
The dept crisis is a serious problem, but it is a result of the failures of a totally free market. Obama is not to blame there. On the contrary his bailout, however costly to tax payers, was the single factor that helped stabilise the economy, and prevent a total freefall that would have cost ordinary americans even more.
There are two factors to blame. Either the banks for irrisponsible loans, or every single american with high loans. A bailout was the only option to secure a future for our children. The alternative would have been even more painful.
However, Obama needs to take action to lower the dept in the near future. He must cut unnecessary spending, including defence and NASA. He must at the same time continue his support for large infrastructure projects, in order to increase investments. And a tax raise, however painful it might sound, is eventually inevitable. With or without Obama in the White House.
Finally a $B comes to the people who bailed out Wall Street. Agreed: we should be able to go it alone and make our own business, problem is there are only so many of us "snobs" who can create. As for the Volt, bought one with my solar panels and am grateful to God for the sun and the ability to free myself from utilities, oil thieves and shieks. I should save a $B
Henry Ford made mass production of cars an American innovation long after many people from a lot of countries failed. With the Republican attitude, you don't put money into new energy or manufacturing methods, you just quit if you try once and it doesn't work out. That's the good old GOP American way...protect your diminishing fossil fuels companies and their 1% political donors while demeaning the other energy sources that are the long term answer to dependence on foreign oil.
Jean – where are you??? Every time I see one of these I think of folks like you who think it is ok to rase taxes. How does our government have an extra billion for this type of venture without any bills being passed? The nuts in Washington scare people about critical services i.e. police, firefighters, SS, etc. and they continue to do things like this. Another example of money for votes.
WHY ALTERNATIVE ENERGY IN CARS IS A JOKE, AND WHY OBAMA IS A FOOL.
Cost to operate a Chevy Volt
"Follow the Money" test drove the Chevy Volt at the invitation of General Motors.
For four days in a row, the fully charged battery lasted only 25 miles before the Volt switched to the reserve gasoline engine.
They calculated the car got 30 mpg including the 25 miles it ran on the battery. So, the range including the 9 gallon gas tank and the 16 kwh battery is approximately 270 miles. It will take you 4 1/2 hours to drive 270 miles at 60 mph. Then add 10 hours to charge the battery and you have a total trip time of 14.5 hours. In a typical road trip your average speed (including charging time) would be 20 mph.
According to General Motors, the Volt battery hold 16 kwh of electricity. It takes a full 10 hours to charge a drained battery. The cost for the electricity to charge the Volt is never mentioned so I looked up what I pay for electricity.
I pay approximately (it varies with amount used and the seasons) $1.16 per kwh.
16 kwh x $1.16 per kwh = $18.56 to charge the battery.
$18.56 per charge divided by 25 miles = $0.74 per mile to operate the Volt using the battery.
Compare this to a similar size car with a gasoline engine only that gets 32 mpg.
$3.19 per gallon divided by 32 mpg = $0.10 per mile
The gasoline powered car cost about $15,000 while the Volt costs $46,000.
So Obama wants us to pay 3 times as much for a car that costs more than 7 times as much to run, and takes 3 times as long to drive across country.
Special thanks to Justice.
http://gm-volt.com/2010/09/10/how-the-chevy-volt-deals-with-gas-and-rare-generator-use/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevrolet_Volt
The battery is guaranteed for eight years and 100,000 miles
A full tank of gas and a fully charged battery the Chevy Volt has a range of 379 miles according to EPA tests before the battery needs recharging, or the gas tank refiled. Full gas tank capacity is 9.3 gallons-high test.
Recharging the battery takes 10 -12 hours in a standard 120V 15 A North American household outlet, or 3 hours from a standard 240 VAC outlet.
Blah-blah-blah....Obama-Obama-Obama! Everytime I see one of these, I wonder where all of you mathematicians, physicists, 'political analysts', and deep thinkers were when BUSH was turning the nation on it's ear. Oh...I know!! You were being good little loyal sheep back then!! When did you wake up and leave OBLIVION? Oh...I know!! When Obama decided to step up to the plate and run rings around the latter! He's done more in three and a half years trying to stand this nation back on it's feet, than Bush, well should I say Cheney did in eight years to bring it down!!! You all are pathetic!!
It is not 3 1/2 years yet...on the19th of March it will be 3 years 2 months, and yes he has turned the economy with the arrow pointing up not down.
Obama is a job killer. We lost 8.8 million jobs during the Bush depression, and Obama has added back only 3.7 million jobs till date.
LOL That Wall Street crash and housing bubble brought on by W's "ownership society" philosophy had nothing to do with job loss
OK – Bush – presumably NOT a job killer - takes 8 long years to wreck the economy with unbudgeted wars and eventually kills off 8.8MM jobs.
And Obama – who you call a job killer – ADDS 3.7MM jobs in three years.
And you are complaining about Obama WHY?!?!?! Rightwingteabaggercrazyontheloose.
Now let me see...it took President Bush 8 years to lose 8.8 million jobs, and President Obama has added 3.7 million jobs in 3 years 2 months. I would say President Obama's figures are moving in the right direction.
I would say you are both not seeing the whole picture, plus you are mathematically challenged.
well all the idiot repos have weighed in . Jobs are up and will continue to climbe. Obama 2012
Still, more than 13 million people remain unemployed in the United States, and 42.5% of them have been so for six months or more.
Overall, the job market has a long way to go to fully recover from the financial crisis. The economy still needs to add about 6 million jobs to get back to 2008 employment levels.
You sound like you are giving BO all the credit. I assume you will blame him when the numbers go the other way. Last year around this time we were told "we turned the corner". I guess there was a wall there.
This from January 26, 2009 six days after President Obama took office....since you seem to have a bad case of convenient amnesia.
http://moneymorning.com/2009/01/26/unemployment-rate-2/
U.S. Unemployment May Be a Bigger Problem Than Government Statistics Say by Don Miller-Money Morning.
If you like the Nanny State of course you should vote for Obama. But if you take personal responsibility for your life you don't need the Nanny State. I hope the economy is getting better but I ain't holding my breath. Go ahead and take some cheap shots. That and a couple of Bucks will buy you a cup of coffee.
Yeah, very independent and responsible to depend on other people to make a job for you...Guess that's why I started my own business when Reagan did this country in with trickle down economics.
Not all people are capable of such responsibility for various reasons. No matter how much personal responsibility some might take, there is always others who have a problem doing so. I'm not sure about you, but I care about those people. To me it's against every aspect of life not to uphold somekind of safety net for those people who are incapable of personal responsibility. That is part of the christian message. It is part of the basic human rights to help others.
16 Trillion in debt and Obama offers up more printed money for something we need only ask the Chineese about..
I do so love President Obama – the saviest one of all. Just adding accomplishment after accomplishment that either gets passed by congress or they have to answer why not. This is the man who should be president.
As if Obama even knows what any of the gauges, readouts, displays or controls means. It's as funny as when he tours a factory, you know the guy's never had a wrench in his hand his entire life.
Let's see...would I rather have a guy good with a wrench or someone who headed the Harvard Law Review for my President......hmmmmm. Obama 2012. Get out the vote!
Our president should be an expert at operating new jetliners, every piece of computer technology, all pieces of heavy equipment, and anything else that is manufactured in our country, right? When you tell me you are able to do that, Ill consider your pointless remark. The people that designed this plane probably never held a wrench, either. They got an education so they could do a much bigger job.
Dan How true....Several years ago I knew an elderly gentleman who helped design some of the post WWII fighter planes and later designed for NASA. He was mechanically challenged when it came to changing a flat tire.