The economy is still struggling. True. Everyone and the dog is ranting about jobs and hiring. True. Aah, but wait - can manufacturing provide an economic boost or is it just a drag and burden on the economy? If the numbers tell the truth, manufacturing has been a job killer for years and years. What else would you expect from a mature economy? After all, the USA already manufactures the best planes, trains, and automobiles right. When you are on top like that, there is nowhere else to go but down before going up again.

Ask GM about the up and down seesaw thingee. They know it oh too well...and guess what, it wasn't until the massive multi-billion dollar auto industry bailout under Obama until GM actually started to do silly things like...hire employees, make a profit and well manufacture quality cars again. Of course, we can, also, thank the Japanese automakers for putting pressure on the Big Three to step it up a notch. Competition is a huge incentive to efficiency in a capitalist society. No argument there but really, besides better automobiles what else is there to manufacture that isn't already being done -- and done well. Hummh, maybe trains? There is a thought. Not only would manufacturing mass transit commuter trains be a huge step in the right direction, doing so would create jobs (lots of jobs), lower energy consumption and dependency and better people’s health. Ever been to LA? Try breathing in the extremely poor air due to the ridiculously high levels of smog.

Once more, LA incidentally was slated for a mass transit bullet train connecting to San Francisco. What happened to that project? How many jobs with that create? Consider what happen if similar projects got off the ground within other metropolitan areas. So is manufacturing a boost or economic burden? Well that depends on the approach. Speaking of which, what's the plan?

Is renewable energy really the next big energy boom or just a cloud of gloom from the fallout of major companies like Solynydra? Renewable energy and the jobs created and or saved is certainly nothing to pass off as unimportant. When you add the fact that big players like Walmart and Google are in the renewable energy game that certainly adds to the attention around renewable energy. At the same time, Solyndra hasn't done so well with getting out cost effective solar panels and was recently pushed into bankruptcy even after receiving a half Billion (with a "B") dollar grant (loan whatever they aren't going to pay back the money) from the Feds. That's just the point. Why put that kind of cash in a market that creates a relatively small amount of jobs and the energy components such as the use of solar panels is really only useful in a relatively small number of states? When was the last time someone in North Dakota purchased solar panels?...not going to happen.

Sure, it's promising to see companies invest in renewable energy but are such investments profitable? Maybe not, at least not now. Again, that has a lot to do with the geographical location, which shrinks the market which in turn shrinks sales and profitability. Granted, some companies might be interested in saving on electrical energy costs but the overhead of solar panel and what not means the payback period is longer. So what's the big deal? Probably a tax write-off for signing up for a government pet project. Make no mistake about it, investing in renewable energy and other alternative sources of energy such as fossil fuels is a good thing but right now the cost is rather high and the number of jobs created are relatively low. That doesn't exactly sound like a boom to me but then it's not necessarily a gloomy situation either. It's more like, the jury is out on the practical use of solar panels. Currently, companies with deep pockets are the attractive buyers. Find a way to bring them into the homes of millions of people living on the West Coast, now we're talking.