PCB007 Magazine

PCB-Feb2017

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76 The PCB Magazine • February 2017 ed as 4.6%, according to the U.S. Department of Labor the Real Unemployment Rate (U-6) for October was 9.5%. This disparity is because the tens of millions of people that have quit look- ing for work are not counted. The news specific to our PCB fabrication in- dustry is even worse; the number of board fab- ricators has declined 55% over the past 16 years (Figure 3). Trade Policy One of the foundational messages of Trump's campaign was the destructive U.S. trade poli- cies that, ironically, seem to favor everyone but the U.S. While I disagree that this is the major cause of the loss of U.S. manufacturing, it is certainly a contributor. This country was founded on the free market system, but look- ing objectively at the facts of the past 16 years is eye opening. While no one is saying "life is fair," the deck should not be so heavily stacked against U.S. success, and something needs to change. A trade deficit reflects the difference be- tween U.S. exports to a country and the imports into the U.S. from that country. The deficit with China increased $22.6 billion to $365.7 billion in 2015, due to a combination of a $7.5 billion decrease in U.S. exports and a $15.1 billion in- crease in imports. Figure 4 shows the annual trade deficit in goods between the U.S. and China with the cu- mulative deficit since 2000. Renegotiation of existing trade agreements with the intent of benefiting the U.S. first should stimulate the economy, increase U.S. imports and work toward gaining a level-playing field for U.S. manufacturing. The collateral benefits may include a return of some lost jobs and an increase in U.S. manufacturing output. Immigration Policy We are the only country in the world whose immigration system puts the needs of other na- tions ahead of our own. The facts: According to the Heritage Foundation [1] , there are cur- rently over 11 million illegal immigrants in the U.S., with almost 8 million of them working. Out of the 8 million working, roughly 50% of them do not pay any taxes. The demographics show roughly half of all illegal immigrants are Mexican, with most of the other half coming from Central and South American countries. The costs for the United States have been ex- traordinary: U.S. taxpayers have been asked to pick up hundreds of billions in healthcare costs, housing costs, education costs, welfare costs, etc. Businesses share in the cost of supporting social programs, health care costs and other tax related burdens that are being used by a grow- ing illegal population that is not paying for the benefits, a double-whammy. The Trump Immigration Reform Plan con- sists of several actions, including: • Securing the border • Tripling the number of ICE officers • E-verify businesses nationwide • Deporting all criminal illegal immigrants • Defunding sanctuary cities • Enhancing penalties for overstaying a visa • Ending welfare abuse • Hiring American Workers First program WHY TRUMP WILL BE GOOD FOR OUR INDUSTRY Figure 3: North American PCB operations. (Source: Harvey Miller, Fabfile Online) Figure 4: U.S. trade deficit with China. (Source: Supply Chain Digest)

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