AND NOW FOR THE BAD NEWS – AT 9:59 A.M. ET:  Reader Gerry Schor alerts us to a news story that follows, by less than a day, the White House's attempt to portray an old Boeing sale of aircraft to China as some kind of major news.  Did the White House see this coming?

Southern California’s once-booming aerospace industry received another blow Wednesday when the Boeing Co. announced plans to cut 900 C-17 workers in Long Beach, reports the Long Beach Press-Telegram.

Separately, Boeing also has notified the state that it will cut an additional 98 workers this month in other programs in Huntington Beach, plus 47 in Anaheim.

The Long Beach announcement follows a major year of layoffs for Boeing in which more than 1,000 jobs in Orange County and the Long Beach/South Bay area were eliminated, outsourced or transferred out of state.

The Press-Telegram says Long Beach’s aerospace workforce, which once numbered 20,000 workers, is now down to 7,000.

Boeing previously announced it would cut 10,000 jobs worldwide to bring its workforce into line with the current market demand.

COMMENT:  The reality is that we're facing years of high unemployment and underemployment, which makes a full recovery impossible.  Countries that succeed are countries that make things, and we have seen our manufacturing base constantly eroded. 

It happens slowly, over time, so it doesn't have the feel of a crisis.  But it's a major crisis.  Compare please with our production during World War II.

January 22, 2011