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Manufacturing’s death has been predicted by the media, economic experts and government bean counters for more than twenty years. While the U.S. has seen the number of manufacturing jobs decline since their peak in the mid-1970s, American manufacturing continues to keep its head above water and in some cases, is experiencing significant growth in sales, burgeoning export figures and upward trending capitalization numbers.
As we sail forward in the “flat world” of Friedman, rather than fall off the edge the earth, we seem to be finding new market frontiers for U.S.-manufactured products. In the June 25, 2007 issue of BusinessWeek, in their Business Outlook section, there is a brief about upward trends in global capacity, tight overseas job markets, combining with the weaker dollar, which should translate into higher U.S. export activity. This could help close our nation’s trade gap and boost U.S. economic growth for the first time in decade.
So, as we surge into the 21st century, should Maine build economic growth around the tried and true manufacturing model? The state certainly has some precision manufacturing firms that are increasing capacity, while paying very well. CNC machinists can pull down in excess of $50K/year and skilled metal fabricators can make in excess of $60,000. Rather than hitch our state’s economic wagon to big-box development, maybe someone in Augusta should at least lend an ear to advocates of manufacturing in the state, since manufacturing firms in Maine supply the aircraft, aerospace and aviation industries, to name a few and also provide cutting edge components for biotechnology and healthcare.
Michael Porter, the “guru” who leads the Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness, based at Harvard Business School, has written extensively on the ability of states and regions of the U.S. to compete globally. Porter’s work, which centers on clusters—geographically concentrated groups of interconnected companies, universities, and related institutions that arise out of linkages or externalities across industries.
In addition to Porter’s work on clusters, is the research that he has led in the area of competitiveness in rural regions of the U.S., of which very little research has been done.
While much of our policy, particularly at the national level, but unfortunately, also at the state government level, is concerned with urban economies, or worse, not much more than the small world that exists between their office and parking garage, rural economies need attention beyond giving away the farm to the next Wal-Mart that wants to come to town.
From ISC’s report released in 2004, on rural economies, Porter and his researchers write,
“Current policies to improve the disappointing economic performance of rural regions are, by and large, not working. This is increasingly the consensus among policy makers across political parties, not only in the United States but also in many other countries around the globe. Not only is the performance of rural regions lagging, but the gap in performance levels between rural and urban areas seems to be widening. This state of affairs exists despite significant efforts to boost rural regions through a wide variety of policies with budgets of billions of dollars in the United States alone.
The failure of current policies for rural regions has many costs: First, it draws on limited government resources at a time of budget deficits and cuts in spending. With many other competing demands on public sector funds, policies that fail to generate results are getting increasingly hard to defend.
Second, rural counties account for 80% of land area, and 20% of U.S. population. Weak performance in rural regions retards national productivity and national prosperity, and fails to effectively utilize the nation’s resources. As the growth of the U.S. workforce slows, making all parts of the economy productive is an important priority.
Third, the inability of rural areas to achieve their potential leads to an inefficient spatial distribution of economic activity in the United States. Activities that could be performed more efficiently in rural areas either migrate offshore or add to the congestion of urban
centers.
Fourth, weak rural performance creates demands for interventions that threaten to erode the incentives for productive economic activity. The lack of competitiveness of rural economies has been a prominent cause of agricultural subsidies as well as import barriers that hurt the U.S. position in the international trading system without addressing the underlying challenges rural regions face.”
These broad conclusions about rural economic development are , by and large, not surprising. The United States has the need and the opportunity to lead in this field. Advances in thinking on competitiveness and regional economic development over the last decade provide an opportunity to now examine rural regions in new ways.”
Since most of Maine would fall into Porter’s classification of rural, his work takes on added importance for the long term economic well-being and seems worthy of at least some consideration by those in charge of economic development in the state.
From Porter's work at the ISC, to some of the findings of the Brookings Report, it's obvious to many that one-size-fits-all economic develoment models won't work. We need to find areas of strength, particularly areas where Maine and other rural areas can compete in a global economy. Regardless of your views on globalization, it's here to stay and we've got to find ways to adapt. Strengthening and adding needed skills to the workforce is a start and supporting clusters that can remain competitive, or find new markets for their products is another.
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Wednesday, June 13, 2007
RiverVision does it again!
RiverVision Press, "Maine's Unique Small Press," announces the release of its newest title, T.W. Moore's I Love Today--Musings From New England.Ever since I returned from my sojourn to NW Indiana, I've been in full-blown production mode, readying our latest title for release.
For those unfamiliar with publishing, particularly small press publishing, you can't fully appreciate all the details that go into releasing a book.
Until I took up the mantle of publisher, mostly by necessity, in order to release my first book, I wasn't aware all the minutia that goes into readying a book for printing.
From ISBN numbers, to copy editing, writing back cover copy, designing a cover that will entice readers to pick up your book, through the actual layout, reading and re-reading proofs, to selecting a printer, it takes real attention to detail to do it right. In addition, you have to be able to market your book, so readers will know about it and if you are a small press publisher, you need to be able to do that marketing on a shoestring.
I'm pleased to be releasing Mr. Moore's book and initial interest from bookstores has been gratifying. Much of that interest comes from cultivating relationships with my independent stores, as well as the chain stores, like Borders, which are quite supportive of local books; this is helpful when you are small and trying to maximize options.
Not only has RiverVision Press doubled its catalog, but we are turning two-years-old on Friday.
To celebrate the new book, we will be holding a book release event in Lewiston, on Saturday, June 23rd, at Percy's Burrow, 20 East Avenue. Mr. Moore will be reading from the book, as well as signing copies of the new book, from 4 to 6 pm. Afterwards, we'll be holding an after-party at the RiverVision Press compound, in Durham.
Hope some of our local friends can make it out and meet our newest author.
Sunday, June 10, 2007
The garden plot
[The "Mayor," overseeing the manor]
[Mary doing some planting the old-fashioned way]
[Man's best friend, at least when it comes to backs]
[Garden plot with tomatoes, squash, carrots, kale, spinach and green beans]
[The herb garden, for what ails 'ya]Mary and I (and of course, “the Mayor,” aka, Bernie) braved Saturday’s heavy morning mist and did a yeoman’s worth of work out in the yard and garden. Despite a forecast for rain on Saturday, we decided that the absence of rain, early in the morning presented a window of opportunity that could best be filled with the tasks at hand—mowing the lawn, prepping the soil for the herb garden and then later, sans the predicted deluge, picking up the rototiller at our niece’s house and going to town on our little plot, where we usually have our summer vegetable garden.
We had our first garden, back in the summer of 2001. Tired of talking about having a garden and wanting to grow something on our own, without relying on the supermarket, we prepped a small 12 X 20 foot area, erected a simple mesh fence to keep the critters out and our foray into growing our own food began.
Because we composted our own kitchen scraps and had a pretty good pile of organic material, filled with nutrients, we opted to go fertilizer-free with our garden. We’ve maintained the garden free of chemicals and fertilizers ever since.
While our garden is small and doesn’t yield enough to sustain our needs, it is a great supplement to supermarket produce. In fact, not only does it provide us with some wonderfully delicious and healthy vegetables, by supplementing our own yield with various farmer’s markets and roadside produce stands, the summer months provide us with a cornucopia of locally-grown foods. Additionally, I feel that gardening is symbolic and helps us reconnect with the earth, which I think is vitally important to our physical, psychic and spirtitual health. On a practical level, knowing how to grow one’s own food may become increasingly important in light of global events and the predictions of some that we cannot sustain our current way of life much longer, as society is currently configured.
There is something that happens when you are out digging in the dirt, smelling the rich aroma of the soil, getting it caked on your hands and under your fingernails. It helps you to recognize the labor required, or, in lieu of labor, the energy, almost always in the form of oil that it requires to produce our foods and truck them to markets, where we can buy them. Even produce and other items obtained at the local organic market requires large outlays of energy to get them to us.
Particularly pertinent to a discussion of growing your own food, are the recent revelations that pet food and now, human food, originating in China, have been contaminated, exposing the vulnerability of our food supply. In addition to contaminated food, is the question of availability of food, in light of corn being turned into ethanol to run our automobiles, which is having the affect of causing many other food products to escalate in price.
While a small garden plot won’t save the planet, it at least is a positive step in the right direction. Knowing where your food comes from is the first step in being more conscious about the issues that surround the politics of food, food security and it lessens our dependency, even in the smallest of ways, upon corporations for our survival.
We had our first garden, back in the summer of 2001. Tired of talking about having a garden and wanting to grow something on our own, without relying on the supermarket, we prepped a small 12 X 20 foot area, erected a simple mesh fence to keep the critters out and our foray into growing our own food began.
Because we composted our own kitchen scraps and had a pretty good pile of organic material, filled with nutrients, we opted to go fertilizer-free with our garden. We’ve maintained the garden free of chemicals and fertilizers ever since.
While our garden is small and doesn’t yield enough to sustain our needs, it is a great supplement to supermarket produce. In fact, not only does it provide us with some wonderfully delicious and healthy vegetables, by supplementing our own yield with various farmer’s markets and roadside produce stands, the summer months provide us with a cornucopia of locally-grown foods. Additionally, I feel that gardening is symbolic and helps us reconnect with the earth, which I think is vitally important to our physical, psychic and spirtitual health. On a practical level, knowing how to grow one’s own food may become increasingly important in light of global events and the predictions of some that we cannot sustain our current way of life much longer, as society is currently configured.
There is something that happens when you are out digging in the dirt, smelling the rich aroma of the soil, getting it caked on your hands and under your fingernails. It helps you to recognize the labor required, or, in lieu of labor, the energy, almost always in the form of oil that it requires to produce our foods and truck them to markets, where we can buy them. Even produce and other items obtained at the local organic market requires large outlays of energy to get them to us.
Particularly pertinent to a discussion of growing your own food, are the recent revelations that pet food and now, human food, originating in China, have been contaminated, exposing the vulnerability of our food supply. In addition to contaminated food, is the question of availability of food, in light of corn being turned into ethanol to run our automobiles, which is having the affect of causing many other food products to escalate in price.
While a small garden plot won’t save the planet, it at least is a positive step in the right direction. Knowing where your food comes from is the first step in being more conscious about the issues that surround the politics of food, food security and it lessens our dependency, even in the smallest of ways, upon corporations for our survival.
Saturday, June 09, 2007
A few more photos from Friday night
[Lara answering questions from the audience]
[Greeting her fans and signing copies of her book]
[Two writers talking craft]
[A photo snapped with the famous author]Friday night book event
[Books, Etc., A Great Local Bookstore]I haven’t been to an author’s event in quite some time. When I was finding my way as a writer, I was a regular at these events, hoping some kernel of wisdom would fall from the lips of that night’s author and would launch my sputtering writing career. Over time, I came to realize that success with my writing would only occur by practice, which meant to write at any opportunity I could find.
Once I published my own book, writer’s events became a chance to meet other writers and talk a bit about the craft and spend time with a group of peers, which is an opportunity that doesn’t always present itself.
Recently, I struck up a correspondence with a writer, who grew up in Maine, but now lives in the writing mecca of New York City. Lara Tupper, who hails from Boothbay, was giving a reading at one of Maine’s great local bookstores, Books Etc., on Exchange Street in Portland.
Having become a frequenter of MySpace, primarily to make some contacts and network, I had run across Lara and her book, A Thousand and One Nights, which is a fictional account of a young entertainer, just out of college, who lands a gig as an entertainer on a luxury cruise liner. The Maine connection immediately caught my eye and I inquired about having her endorse RiverVision Press’s latest book. Unfortunately, due to contractual issues, Lara wasn’t able to lend an endorsement for the book’s jacket, but she was gracious enough to offer a blurb on RiverVision’s behalf, to post via our website and/or use on any promotional material.
In a world of wannabes and poseurs, who pull rank and whose 15 minutes seem like an eternity, Lara came across as genuine and approachable, taking the time to call me and explain why she couldn’t endorse the book. This really showed her class and impressed me a great deal. When I received her email, announcing upcoming book events in Maine, I jotted the Friday night event in Portland on my calendar, with a commitment to be there, if at all possible.
In my new job, I find that I rarely get to Portland, after having spent a lot of time there over much of the past 15 years, with work, going out with my wife to movies, or cultural events, as well as being involved in a variety of activist organizations based in town.
It was nice walking around the Old Port, prior to the 7 pm reading, seeing the younger set, juggling and engaged in various performances in Tommy’s Park, listening to guitar players busking on the sidewalks, as well as sensing the palpable energy of the beginning of another Friday night of partying and merrymaking for many.
I arrived at Books Etc., just prior to 7 and chatted a bit with the bookstore staff. Always one of my favorite local bookstores, I had soured a bit on the store when I had some difficulty getting my own book into both the Portland and Falmouth stores. What I found out, only recently, is that I had been going through the wrong channels and all is now well between the store and RiverVision Press.
Lara was chatting with family and friends when I arrived. I introduced myself and she was very friendly and gracious, going out of her way to introduce me to her Mom, as well as other friends. While people occasionally leave Maine and acquire the traits and attitudes of their new home, it was obvious that Lara still possessed the ways of the Pine Tree State.
She spent about 20 minutes, or so, reading from the book, which sounds very interesting and should make for an interesting summer read and could very well end up being reviewed in the not-too-distant future, over at Write in Maine, as one of my summer beach books.
Always a sucker to know more about my favorite musicians, athletes and writers, I welcomed the question and answer time and Lara took a number of questions. One gentleman asked a couple of interesting questions, one in particular, which pertained to place and since she now lives “away,” did this negate her sense of Maine being home for her? Lara talked about people having a need to go away, to see other places, but she said that for her, this didn’t mean she had lost her sense that Maine is home, for her, which proves that you really can go home, again. The time she spent answering questions and talking to those in attendance revealed a very engaging writer, who really connects with her readers.
A Thousand and One Nights is somewhat autobiographical, in that Lara’s first job out of college was as a lounge singer on a cruise ship and she ended up doing this line of work for nearly 10 years. A Wesleyan grad, who did a MFA stint at Warren Wilson College, in North Carolina, she’s currently teaching writing at Rutgers University, in NYC and already planning a follow-up book to her successful debut novel. The new book will be historical fiction and will be based on the life of the wife of Paul Gauguin, which will be remarkably different than her first book and shows her obvious versatility as a writer.
I really enjoyed meeting Lara, hearing her read, as well as getting an autographed copy of One Thousand and One Nights, which is at the top of my “books to read” list for the summer.
Once I published my own book, writer’s events became a chance to meet other writers and talk a bit about the craft and spend time with a group of peers, which is an opportunity that doesn’t always present itself.
Recently, I struck up a correspondence with a writer, who grew up in Maine, but now lives in the writing mecca of New York City. Lara Tupper, who hails from Boothbay, was giving a reading at one of Maine’s great local bookstores, Books Etc., on Exchange Street in Portland.
Having become a frequenter of MySpace, primarily to make some contacts and network, I had run across Lara and her book, A Thousand and One Nights, which is a fictional account of a young entertainer, just out of college, who lands a gig as an entertainer on a luxury cruise liner. The Maine connection immediately caught my eye and I inquired about having her endorse RiverVision Press’s latest book. Unfortunately, due to contractual issues, Lara wasn’t able to lend an endorsement for the book’s jacket, but she was gracious enough to offer a blurb on RiverVision’s behalf, to post via our website and/or use on any promotional material.
In a world of wannabes and poseurs, who pull rank and whose 15 minutes seem like an eternity, Lara came across as genuine and approachable, taking the time to call me and explain why she couldn’t endorse the book. This really showed her class and impressed me a great deal. When I received her email, announcing upcoming book events in Maine, I jotted the Friday night event in Portland on my calendar, with a commitment to be there, if at all possible.
In my new job, I find that I rarely get to Portland, after having spent a lot of time there over much of the past 15 years, with work, going out with my wife to movies, or cultural events, as well as being involved in a variety of activist organizations based in town.
It was nice walking around the Old Port, prior to the 7 pm reading, seeing the younger set, juggling and engaged in various performances in Tommy’s Park, listening to guitar players busking on the sidewalks, as well as sensing the palpable energy of the beginning of another Friday night of partying and merrymaking for many.
I arrived at Books Etc., just prior to 7 and chatted a bit with the bookstore staff. Always one of my favorite local bookstores, I had soured a bit on the store when I had some difficulty getting my own book into both the Portland and Falmouth stores. What I found out, only recently, is that I had been going through the wrong channels and all is now well between the store and RiverVision Press.
Lara was chatting with family and friends when I arrived. I introduced myself and she was very friendly and gracious, going out of her way to introduce me to her Mom, as well as other friends. While people occasionally leave Maine and acquire the traits and attitudes of their new home, it was obvious that Lara still possessed the ways of the Pine Tree State.
She spent about 20 minutes, or so, reading from the book, which sounds very interesting and should make for an interesting summer read and could very well end up being reviewed in the not-too-distant future, over at Write in Maine, as one of my summer beach books.
Always a sucker to know more about my favorite musicians, athletes and writers, I welcomed the question and answer time and Lara took a number of questions. One gentleman asked a couple of interesting questions, one in particular, which pertained to place and since she now lives “away,” did this negate her sense of Maine being home for her? Lara talked about people having a need to go away, to see other places, but she said that for her, this didn’t mean she had lost her sense that Maine is home, for her, which proves that you really can go home, again. The time she spent answering questions and talking to those in attendance revealed a very engaging writer, who really connects with her readers.
A Thousand and One Nights is somewhat autobiographical, in that Lara’s first job out of college was as a lounge singer on a cruise ship and she ended up doing this line of work for nearly 10 years. A Wesleyan grad, who did a MFA stint at Warren Wilson College, in North Carolina, she’s currently teaching writing at Rutgers University, in NYC and already planning a follow-up book to her successful debut novel. The new book will be historical fiction and will be based on the life of the wife of Paul Gauguin, which will be remarkably different than her first book and shows her obvious versatility as a writer.
I really enjoyed meeting Lara, hearing her read, as well as getting an autographed copy of One Thousand and One Nights, which is at the top of my “books to read” list for the summer.
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