Standard-Examiner: Export Sales Growing in Weber, Davis and Morgan Counties

More manufacturing operations, please... forget the goof-ball hotels

Apparent good news for the Ogden economy this morning, as the Standard-Examiner reports the latest economic research data from the prestigious Brookings Institute. Here's the lede:

OGDEN -- Davis, Weber and Morgan counties posted the 15th largest growth in export sales among the nation's 100 biggest metropolitan areas between 2003 and 2008, according to a national study released today.
The study was completed by the Brookings Institution, a public policy think tank based in Washington, D.C. It analyzes export activity for the 10 largest metros in the Intermountain West, including the Ogden-Clearfield Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes Weber, Davis and Morgan counties.
The purpose of the study is to examine why exports are important to the national economy, as well as why metro areas are vital to exports.

Read the full SE story here:

• Export sales growing in Weber, Davis and Morgan counties

Be sure to check out this Brookings Institute PDF, which serves as the foundation for this morning's SE story:

• Export West: How Mountain West Metros Can Lead National Export Growth And Boost Competitiveness

After a laborsome search of the Brookings website, we were also able to come up with an online Ogden-Clearfield profile, which fleshes out the particulars of the local data, and further substantiates the information provided in this morning's SE article:

• Profile for Ogden-Clearfield UT MSA

In this connection, we believe the Brookings Institute hits the nail on the head with this:

To reset its economic trajectory, the United States needs to connect the macroeconomic goal of increasing exports with the metropolitan reality of export production. Public and private sector leaders at the metro level need to collaborate and engage actively to leverage already extant export concentrations to create good paying jobs at home.

In our view, our national and local economies will never recover from the economic doldrums which were induced during the wave of U.S. manufacturing "outsourcing" which occurred during the last two decades, (when substantial portions of the U.S. manufacturing base were transferred offshore,) unless and until a robust manufacturing base is re-established in the U.S.

We're thus delighted to observe that our local economy is in the forefront in building an export-oriented manufacturing capacity; and we'd therefore like to convey these words of wisdom to our elected Ogden City officials:

More manufacturing operations, please... forget the goof-ball hotels.

And what say you about this, O Gentle Ones?