Do Any Of The Presidential Candidates Really Understand Auto Manufacturing?

1st Gear: The Debates Come To Michigan

No matter which side of the aisle you’re on, you can be forgiven if you’re suffering from a serious case of Debate Fatigue. But the Republican and Democratic candidates will have debates in Detroit and Flint, respectively, in early March, and you can expect some tough questions there about corporate taxes, trade tariffs, jobs moving overseas and other issues that affect the U.S. auto industry.

Does anyone get it right now? Via The Detroit Free Press:

“There is still very poor understanding in both parties of the role of manufacturing and how it functions in our economy,” said David Cole, founder of AutoHarvest, an organization aiming to ease the huge talent gap in manufacturing.

“If they really understood the high economic multiplier associated with manufacturing (meaning that for every job at an auto manufacturer, there are nine other jobs either in suppliers or spin-off jobs created), maybe with these debates, we’ll hear more conversation about it.“

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