Did you hear? The automotive biz is rockin' and rollin'. General Motors—that's right, the same GM that trudged to bankruptcy court earlier this year—reported 2009 growth of 40 percent. Heck, the industry overall reported 90 percent growth in August. Simply amazing!

Oh, I forgot to mention: You have to move to China to join the party.

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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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A few days ago, my fellow blogger, Eric Lundin, wrote a post entitled " Too little, too late," in which he discussed U.S. pipe producers asking the U.S. Department of Commerce to impose duties on steel pipe imported from China.

Eric shed light on the snail's pace at which the legal process moves to address serious issues— a pace that often leads to feeble attempts to close the barn door long after the horses have trampled and chewed through many, many fields in their escape. In this case, think of each blade of grass as a job lost or domestic pipe facility closed. At least the horses deposit fertilizer to help re-grow the mangled grass.

This topic also was featured in the September issue of "Tube Talk," and subscribers shared their thoughts about recent related DOC rulings and tariffs in general. What do they think should be done?

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It's 2005. A group of investment bankers visit a dimly lit New York club. One banker in his 20s makes more than a million a year packaging mortgages and sending them on to the big Wall Street firms. Two waiters arrive carrying four champagne bottles each with tiny sparklers. Everyone turns to look. Those bankers just ordered four bottles of Cristal at $1,000 a pop.

It's 2009. Tom Tseng, general manager of Chinese bicycle-maker Tandem Industries, tells a newspaper reporter that "China's ability to consume has reached a fairly high level … [while] in the U.S. people now only want to buy cheap things."

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Even the mildly curious must wonder what sort of a trade situation would justify a 90 percent tariff.

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I have a feeling something good's going to happen in manufacturing. Maybe not this year or next, but good times are coming.

Yes, this is an odd thing to say just days after those dreadful GDP numbers were released. Gross domestic product declined by 6.1 percent during the first quarter, the worst quarterly decline in more than half a century. Also, just hours ago Chrysler filed for bankruptcy.

Yeesh.

Yet glimmers of hope are on the horizon. Companies continue to shed inventory, and at some point they'll need parts again to meet customer demand. Sure, consumer demand's drastically down, but we have to live, and that means we have to buy at least, some products to get by. Inventory won't last forever, right?

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As bad bailout news emerges unabated, we continually hear that finger-wagging phrase that, once uttered, we hope makes these unabashed bankers hang their heads in shame: Taxpayers are shouldering the burden. I've heard the phrase so much that I'm beginning to think we're all serfs toiling in the mud, stopping only to be harassed by the evil tax collector (that is, the government) who snatches what few gold ducats we have managed to scrape together to bail out these Lords of Finance.

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From what shop owners tell me, the metal fabrication sector has had quite a ride during the past few months. It's hard to believe that in October at the FABTECH® International & AWS Welding Show, shop managers told me stories of strong business that, though not as good as in 2007, still had enough orders to keep machines humming on the floor. They told me largely the same story in November too.

Then December happened.

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This Chinese New Year wasn’t the rosiest for many folks on the other side of the planet. According to reports, Chinese exports were down 2.8 percent in December from the previous year--a significant number, considering the amount China exports. The country’s GDP grew 13 percent in 2007, but was nearly flat during the fourth quarter of 2008. The world’s workshop now must deal with a global marketplace that isn’t buying as much as it was.

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As the Dow did its dance on a cliff’s edge yesterday, the FABTECH International® & AWS Welding Show kicked off with gusto yesterday here in Las Vegas, and the credit crunch seemed refreshingly far away. Why?

It’s because Jim Waters has visited Chinese cities with populations of more than 5 million—with no airport. “You know what I was thinking?”

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