Twenty-five years
from now, folks in Northwest Indiana are going to remember 2014 “as the
bottom of the economic trough for these three counties.”
That was the
crystal-ball prediction made by U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky, R-1st, at the
Duneland Chamber of Commerce’s recent monthly luncheon.
And yet, even as
things are turning around and indicators are improving, the rising tide has
clearly not lifted every family’s boat. “It’s still a difficult economy and
that’s not acceptable,” Visclosky declared.
“Steel remains the
backbone of Northwest Indiana’s economy,” he noted. The industry’s
“incredible labor productivity,” however, hasn’t saved it from “experiencing
some serious difficulties,” with layoffs and closures all too reminiscent of
those in the 1980s and ‘90s. “The circumstances today are similarly
troubling,” Visclosky said.
The problem:
foreign steelmakers’ assault on U.S.. trade laws, which they continue to
find remarkably easy “to take advantage of.” Right now imported product is
selling in this country at $100 per ton less than the steel manufactured at
ArcelorMittal’s Burns Harbor facility. But only because it’s being
subsidized by the steelmakers’ national governments, Visclosky said. “And
that’s against the law.”
The domestic mills
regularly take these cases before the U.S. International Trade Commission.
“And we win those cases,” he noted. “But it takes 12 or 18 or 24 months to
win. And by that time the plant is shuttered and people have lost their jobs
and the foreign steelmakers have the field to itself.”
How bad is it right
now? Fully 70 percent of the tubular products being bought and sold in the
U.S.--a niche market which U.S. Steel Corporation heavily invested in--is
imported. “People are beating the system to death,” Visclosky admitted.
That, he added, is why he opposes the Pacific Rim trade accord currently
being negotiated. “It’s unfair to ask U.S. citizens to compete against
uncontrolled markets.”
Visclosky took a
moment to recall a comment made some time ago by economist and former
treasury secretary Larry Summers, who famously--or infamously--spoke of the
emergence of a “knowledge-based” job market making manufacturing obsolete.
“I’m still offended by that,” he said. “Have you been inside a steel mill? I
don’t understand the physics. But I know that all the armor for the Navy’s
nuclear attack subs comes from Porter County. I don’t want to buy it from
Russia.”
Visclosky has
always been an optimist, though. And on the 1st District’s economic future
he’s positively chipper.
Begin with the
South Shore line’s West Lake extension, the spur which--when completed--will
bring passenger service south to Munster and Hammond and open the Chicago
job market to a whole new generation of commuters.
Simultaneously the
extension should reduce the travel time to Chicago from points east, so that
eventually the ride from Michigan City to Downtown Chicago will take no more
than an hour. “Suddenly Chicago comes all the way down to LaPorte County,”
Visclosky said.
The Northwest
Indiana Redevelopment Authority, in committing itself to the South Shore
expansion, has become “the engine of economic development here,” he
remarked. “The state has also committed to 30-year bond issues. And the
communities in Lake County are beginning to line up and make their own
commitments.”
The Gary/Chicago
International Airport will have its own role to play too in the region’s
economic renaissance, Visclosky projected. The long-needed runway extension
is scheduled for completion this month, an “excellent management company”
has taken the reins at Gary/Chicago, and Gary Mayor Karen Freeman-Wilson has
expressed her hope of seeing a customs facility developed there as well.
“I’m convinced
we’re on the right path and things are going to get better,” Visclosky
concluded his remarks.