Fox News—most people either love it or hate it. I'm indifferent about it, preferring to look at it as I do most media: Take what I hear with a grain of salt and watch out for bias.

Just yesterday, host Greta Van Susteren chatted with David Cho, financial reporter for the "Washington Post" about how small businesses are doing. Cho authored an article in the "Post" Oct. 22 entitled "Rescue efforts shift to small business." The crux of that effort is getting affordable credit into the hands of small businesses.

Fabricating Update subscribers are in businesses that could benefit most from these efforts, provided they are handled properly and in a timely manner. Some subscribers welcome the focus on small businesses, some clearly think properly and timely are not in the government's lexicon, and some think the government should stay the heck out of business altogether.

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Psssst. Hey … down here. I’m the headline about 20 column inches below the story about Balloon Boy. Keep looking down. Down. Just below that expose about Polanski. See me? Good. Don't tell anyone, but manufacturing's getting a bit better. In fact, manufacturing may be the thing that pulls us all out of the economic doldrums; at least that's how some are reacting to the Federal Reserve data released Friday.

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On a flight to a manufacturing event last week, I read an article in BusinessWeek that got me pretty down. The headline on the magazine cover screamed, "America's Manufacturing Crisis." The topic: Why stuff's invented stateside and sent abroad for manufacturing.

"While the Japanese, Koreans, Taiwanese, and Chinese plowed billions into megaplants to churn out commodity products, America steamed ahead in more lucrative pursuits, such as software, life sciences, and financial services," the article stated. "As for companies such as Dell and Apple, they could still reap high profits by focusing on marketing and design while letting offshore contractors handle the grunge work."

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If you're connected to the wind energy business or are looking to get your foot in the door, you're probably thinking about two things:

1. You're tired of cheesy puns in article headlines (like the one above).

2. You are hoping investors start embracing the business again.

For the former, I'm a culprit among all the other business reporters using excessive verbal window dressing to write about this sector. As for the latter, investment trends are blowing in a new direction. (Apologies, again.)

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Buried within the Institute for Supply Management™'s July Manufacturing ISM Report on Business® is a telling quote from a metal fabricator.

"No stimulus for manufacturing."

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The numbers popping up in the media recently draw an interesting, perhaps conflicted picture of the state of business in the U.S. Here's why.

First, there's unemployment. Like many, I expected the unemployment rate to continue its relentless rise past the symbolic 10 percent mark. It didn't. It fell a bit, to 9.4 percent. Dig a little deeper into the government's official release, though, and you'll find that 14,000 people in the fabricated metal products sector lost their jobs. Machinery-makers shed 15,000. And manufacturing overall shed 2 million jobs since this recession began.

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That number bounced around the blogosphere this week as CIT teeters on the brink of bankruptcy. CEO Jeff Peek told news outlets that 760 manufacturing companies could shut down if CIT collapses. And then comes the ripple effect, which is even scarier.

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A decade ago we watched events leading up to the dot-com-era implosion, and this morning we witnessed a milestone of the drawn-out automotive bust: General Motors is now a bankrupt company. Economic history is peppered with booms, bubbles, and busts of various sorts, but the current automotive struggle seems different—perhaps more human.

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"It's all about the parts. It's all about the parts."

That was Jean Jennings, editor-in-chief of Automobile magazine in an interview yesterday with Marketplace host Tess Vigeland. Her comment really hit home with me, particularly after digesting the auto industry news and opinion that have been bursting out of mainstream media this week.

Her five words overshadow all the finger-pointing. Who's to blame for the automakers' woes? Some say it's the unions and the health care packages those unions negotiated, or the unions' work rules. Others say companies like GM have too many nameplates to sell efficiently. Others say the dealer system is broken.

Personally, I'm tired of the blame game. In this economy, even Toyota—the poster child for lean and founder of the Toyota Production System—is talking of possible layoffs and going hat in hand to the Japanese government.

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A friend of mine in college couldn't wait to get to Detroit.

A mechanical engineering major, he loved cars. He worked at summer co-ops trying to get his foot in the door. He'd talk about designs, inside and out. And though I never saw him do it, I bet he was the kind of guy who ran his hand across a well-made vehicle, admiring the flawless fit and finish. He admired all the parts that made up a logical whole, and together they made up a system that could continually be perfected.

Last week the government lent a hand to makers of those parts who for too long just haven't been getting paid. The Treasury Department announced $5 billion in aid to auto parts suppliers, a number far below the $25 billion suppliers had wanted. But it's something, and at a time when taxpayers cringe as they read about bailout after bailout, the industry isn't taking that $5 billion for granted. Advocacy groups are applauding the measure, but concerns abound.

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