Economic dissatisfaction is a pervasive theme in this year’s Presidential primary season.  This week’s articles focus on jobs, particularly manufacturing jobs; the state of the middle class; and globalization.

The real jobs issue that nobody is debating.  This year’s narrative is about the tragic decline of American manufacturing, but Ed Marsh, editor of Manufacturing Strategy, says that is misleading.  The reality is that manufacturing output has grown due to automation, but employment has fallen as a result.   Precious little is being discussed about the millions of jobs Oxford University researchers estimate will be displaced by automation in the next 20 years.  Click here to read the full article

 

Life on the Edge.  Noted financial expert, John Mauldin, looks at the real world economic pain that a major and growing fraction of the population experiences in daily life. This is a long, but excellent article that helps explain the depth of current economic dissatisfaction.  Click here to read the full article

 

What you won’t hear about trade and manufacturing on the campaign trail. Modern manufacturing is a complex, multi-tiered system of global supply chains that draw components from around the world, according to Willy C. Shih, Professor of Management Practice at Harvard Business School, writing for the Harvard Business Review.   Simple solutions to restore manufacturing jobs in the U.S. may sound great, but the reality is more complex.  Click here to read the full article

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Disclosure – The articles mentioned in This Week with J. Mark Nickell & Co. are for information and educational purposes only. They represent a sample of the numerous articles that the firm reads each week to stay current on financial and economic topics. The articles are linked to websites separate from the J. Mark Nickell & Co. website. The opinions expressed in these articles are the opinions of the author and not J. Mark Nickell & Co. This is not an offer to buy or sell any security.  J. Mark Nickell & Co. is under no obligation to update any of the information in these articles. We cannot attest to the accuracy of the data in the articles.