Better Tanks For The Army Means More Manufacturing Jobs For The Midwest (from Forbes)

FDR’s “arsenal of democracy” has been withering for two generations, thanks to a combination of predatory trading partners and bad federal management.  A case in point is the nation’s last remaining tank plant in Lima, Ohio which is turning out a grand total of one modernized Abrams tank per month.  During the Reagan years, it produced 60 per month.  Like other local industry in Lima — which has lost 30% of its population since 1970 — the tank plant is at a low ebb.  But it doesn’t have to be that way.  If the Trump Administration modernizes the Army’s tanks for future fights, a thousand manufacturing jobs could be created at the plant and in its supply chain, which is concentrated in the Midwest.  Lima is one place where what’s good for U.S. security is also what’s good for America’s economy.  I have written a commentary for Forbes here.