Greetings everyone, I hope your weekend was fantastic. Welcome to another edition of Manufacturing Monday! Some exciting and interesting stuff to cover this week. First the big time strike happening at Boeing. Then theres computer maker Dell looking to sell of ALL of it's factories, and finally could Saudi Arabia claim to be Mecca of solar energy beside crude oil??

Dreamliner turning out to be a nightmare for Boeing and it's workers

Honestly, Boeing should have seen this coming. Well, in case you weren't aware, the machinists at Boeing went on strike over the weekend. The raison d'etre for calling the move? Outsourcing of work, or basically job security was the main issue.

It is the economy, again, stupid. Working class families are fearful, but the opportunity for mis-information is high.

Senator Obama is using the Detroit Labor Day kickoff to emphasize three messages: addressing the needs of working people, the key role unions play in the election, and the role of manufacturing and the auto industry," Shaiken said. Both the Democratic presidential nominee and Republican rival Sen. John McCain are fighting for union members -- a key voting bloc in Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania and other swing states. Link

Obama/Biden and the populist message are on-track.

Just out of curiosity, tonight I just started watching today's DNC, missed the first hour (6pm CST).  So far I've heard a ton about healthcare, and Steny Hoyer has said something about jobs. Well, actually, right now, Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm, who is doing a question and answer session using a panel. She's actually specifically mentioned industrial jobs. The theme so far in the questioning is that clean energy will equal more jobs.

For anyone whose read my pieces in the past, knows that I hold a certain disdain towards former Reagan White House OMB Associate Director/conservative-libertarian Ayn Rand acolyte Larry Kudlow. It's nothing personal against the guy, it's his ideas and economic policy objectives that I find fault with. For the past couple of months, he's been going on about this is the "Goldilocks economy." Essentially, that we're worrying about nothing because one bad economic indicator is being offset by a good one (mind you, he's often just used productivity as that one). Well today, despite his claims that all is almost well, we got some news that just proves Larry Kudlow wrong!

Ok, I will give him some credit. He isn't a Pollyanna and he has come out and said this or that has been bad or needs to get better. Still, his overall anthem is that things are really great and that we (he's quoted Phil Graham) should stop "whining."

Inflation is still there and going higher.