Articles in this Sep-Oct 2008 Issue:
Members: Scroll down to download the formatted newsletter, or click on the links.
Visitors: The stories (text-only) are below.
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President's Message - Back to the Top
Ramblings from the Top
Each year about this time I send you all a note reminding you that the dues you pay to be members of the New Jersey Tooling & Manufacturing Association are due. As you write the check, you may wonder where the dues money goes. In short, a portion of the income pays for the rent, salaries for one full time and one part time employee, the cost to produce our newsletter, maintain our website, purchase administrative supplies, and of course, the pizza, salad and/or hoagie that your Board of Directors consume during our monthly meetings. I might add that all other expenses borne by our board members in the accomplishment of their duties come out of their pockets.
What does your Board of Directors do for you? Three of them, including myself, are active members of the New Jersey Business & Industry Association’s Manufacturing Council. At council meetings we continually stress the need for political action to provide New Jersey businesses relief from high taxes and fees, over regulation and other restrictive policies which make it increasingly difficult to maintain a profitable business in New Jersey. Recently, our Association’s Executive Director and one of our board members were asked to sit in on a focus group where discussion centered on the future direction of the Manufacturing Council to include the purpose of the council, meeting topics and program ideas for 2009.
The backbone of our nation’s well being is in manufacturing. We all know, too well, that the backbone is currently broken and in need of repair. We can either sit by or do nothing or we can make our needs known to our state and national elected officials. Any politician in office ought to be able to tell you what he or she has
done or is doing to further the interests of manufacturing. In the near future NJTMA will be sending a questionnaire to each of our elected officials asking them some very pointed questions about their plans to bring industry back to what it once was in our state and nation.
This past year we have our association with the South Jersey Chapter of the National Tool & Manufacturing Association (NTMA). NJTMA and NTMA representatives are attending each other’s meetings and on 20 January, 2009, we will conduct a joint meeting in central New Jersey where we will share a meal and have the opportunity to network with one-another. I urge you to attend this meeting. More information will follow.
This past June, at McGuire Air Force Base, your Association supported the New Jersey National Guard Officer Associations Scholarship Fund by participating in its annual golf outing where over $6,000 was raised to provide scholarships to the children of New Jersey Guard members. Additionally, several members of our board members have contributed to the National Guard Family Readiness Council which was established to provide grants to needy families’ and small business grants to self employed Guard members who are, or have been deployed for more than 90 days. As there are currently over 3,000 members of the New Jersey National Guard on active duty, many of whom are currently deployed to Iraq. We ask each of our association members to consider making a tax-deductible gift to the council. You will soon be receiving information from “Rich” Ebersbach, a member of our board, with information on how you can contribute to this worthwhile cause. And remember to keep all of our men and women in uniform in your prayers.We are finally seeing some light at the end of the tunnel.
Our Governor and our legislators in Trenton are finally talking about helping manufacturers. In a recent address to a joint session of the legislature the Governor proposed a comprehensive economic relief plan that includes business tax reform and $3,000 dollar grants for new job creation. The leaders of both houses have indicated their support of the Governor’s proposals.
This is where we all come in. We must, individually and as an association, tell our elected officials what we need to make our business thrive and we must support those who help us. These past few months have been tough for many of us. Let’s help each other and we can and will survive.
CAN DO LETS GO
Tony LaMastra, NJTMA President
Hone-A-Matic Tool & Cutter Co.
sales@honeamatic.com
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How Can New Jersey Remain Competitive? - Back to the Top
Here is some advice for New Jersey’s Legislators:
Analysis conducted by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) shows that "generally speaking, states that spend less, especially on income transfer programs, and states that tax less, particularly on productive activities such as working or investing, experience higher growth rates than states that tax and spend more." Ranking states by domestic migration, per-capita income growth and employment growth, ALEC found that from 1996 through 2006, Texas, Florida and Arizona were the three most successful states. Illinois, Ohio and Michigan were the three least successful.
The rewards for success were huge. Texas gained 1.7 million net new jobs, Florida gained 1.4 million and Arizona gained 600,000. While the U.S. average job growth percentage was 9.9%, Texas, Florida and Arizona had job growth of 18.5%, 21.4% and 28.9%, respectively. Remarkably, a third of all the jobs in the U.S. in the last 10 years were created in these three states.
By comparison, Illinois gained only 122,000 jobs, Ohio lost 62,900 and Michigan lost 318,000. Workers in the three least successful states had to contend with a quarter-million fewer jobs rather than taking their pick of the 3.7 million new jobs that were available in the three fastest-growing states.
What explains this relative performance over the last 10 years? The simple answer is that governance, taxes and regulatory policy matter. The playing field among the states was not flat. Business conditions were better in the successful states than in the lagging ones. Capital and labor gravitated to where the burdens were smaller and the opportunities greater.
Additionally, there also appears to be a clear difference between union interests and the worker interests. Texas, Florida and Arizona are right-to-work states, while Michigan, Ohio and Illinois are not. Michigan, Ohio and Illinois impose significantly higher minimum wages than Texas, Florida and Arizona. Yet with all the proclaimed benefits of unionism and higher minimum wages, Texas, Florida and Arizona workers saw their real income grow more than twice as fast as workers in Michigan, Ohio and Illinois.
Incredibly, the business climate in Michigan is now so unfavorable that it has overwhelmed the considerable comparative advantage in auto production that Michigan spent a century building up. No one should let Michigan politicians blame their problems solely on the decline of the U.S. auto industry. Yes, Michigan lost 83,000 auto manufacturing jobs during the past decade and a half, but more than 91,000 new auto manufacturing jobs sprung up in Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and Texas.
Mandatory subject be taught to our State Legislators: How to Save NJ Manufacturing, 101.
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New National Education Council focuses on Manufacturing Workforce - Back to the Top
The newly formed National Education Council held its inaugural meeting in Washington, D.C. this past October. The council will focus on issues such as designing regional manufacturing talent development systems, creating 21st century career and technical education programs and advancing innovation in the manufacturing economy.
The council was created in recognition of the fact that in the current difficult economic times the US must create more pathways to help more individuals prepare for high paying manufacturing jobs and, in turn, help U.S. companies to compete in world markets.
As international competition intensifies, U.S. manufacturers are having a difficult time finding qualified people to replace the retiring baby boom generation in increasingly sophisticated high tech jobs. The skill shortages are having a widespread impact on the ability of manufacturers to achieve production levels, increase productivity and meet customer demands. With more highly-skilled and qualified people, manufacturers could create more jobs with family sustaining wages.
Representing K-12, community and technical colleges and 4 year colleges and universities, the educators and officials hope to develop national strategies to keep the American manufacturing workforce globally competitive and create more high paying jobs.
Editor’s note: As an aside, in New Jersey, the NJ Manufacturing Extension Program (NJMEP) will soon be announcing a program geared to training high school students as machinists. More information to follow.
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Did You Know? - Back to the Top
New Jersey is home to 10,551 manufacturers employing 461,158 workers. New Jersey ranks 14th in the nation for number of manufacturing plants and 15th for employment, accounting for 15% of the Mid-Atlantic's jobs and 16% of the region's manufacturers.
Northeastern New Jersey represents nearly 70% of the state's industrial employment, or 311,226 jobs, and accounts for most of the state's decline, down 2.1% over the year. Northwest New Jersey accounts for 13% of the state's manufacturing employment or 59,982 jobs. Southwest New Jersey accounts for 51,430 industrial jobs, while Southeastern New Jersey accounts for 38,520.
The chemicals sector accounts for the most manufacturing jobs in New Jersey, representing 17% of the state's industrial employment or 80,617 jobs. The printing and publishing sector accounts for 54,724 jobs, while electronics manufacturing represents 41,716 jobs.
Newark is home to the most industrial jobs and plants in New Jersey, accounting for 328 manufacturers employing 13,882. Moorestown accounts for the second most jobs in the state at 8,125 jobs. Edison ranks third with 7,447 jobs, while fourth-ranked Clifton is home to 7,330 jobs, and Pennsauken ranks fifth in the state with 6,628 jobs.
Let’s keep reminding our State Legislators about these numbers and what manufacturing means to New Jersey.
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How to Save on Your Real Estate Taxes - Back to the Top
In our May 2006 newsletter we told you how you could save money on your real estate taxes. Since then several of your fellow association members have each saved thousands of dollars through real estate tax appeals by following the advice in the article.
If you are interested in a no cost way to save on your real estate taxes, contact Dan Keough, who is a partner at Ventura, Miesowitz, Albano, Keough & Warner, a law firm in Summit, NJ. Ask him how you can make a dent in one of your largest operating expenses, your municipal property taxes, without incurring any additional expenses.
Mr. Keough can be reached at (908) 277-2410 or by email at dan.keough@vmakw.com
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NJTMA Welcomes our New Member - Back to the Top
Professional Associate Member:
MetroMedia Energy is one of the largest and most experienced marketers in the competitive energy industry. They supply over 15,000 individual and commercial clients with natural gas and electricity services. Their mission is to provide the highest level of customer satisfaction for the lowest cost and save your business unnecessary high utility costs.
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Advertising In TAD
We are accepting advertisements in our newsletter. For advertising information, just go to our website at www.njtma.com.
Our newsletter is not only circulated to our member companies, it also gets delivered to a list of prospects. Both of which may benefit from your products and services. But, these individuals can’t find you if they do not know you are out there! Advertising in our newsletter is an excellent way to let people know whom you are, what you do and where to reach you! We urge you take advantage of this opportunity!
See the TAD Newsletter Advertising page for more details.
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