second opinion - productive values
WORKERS, APR 2005 ISSUE
Belated government figures for 2002 indicate that the contribution of manufacturing to the creation of value in Britain was in the region of £150 billion – or just one-seventh of Britain's wealth. And the decline has continued to the present day.
The Engineering Employers Federation recently indicated that 60% of manufacturers had already or were intending shipping some production out to China, where wages are far lower and strikes outlawed.
Meanwhile, other industry simply closes down. The 1,000-year-old Kirkstall Forge site in Leeds, founded by Cistercian monks, disappears into a welter of skyscrapers, offices, shops, hotels, fitness centres and restaurants. How can an economy maintain itself if value-creating manufacture continues to decline?