Where are the Jobs...What can Government Really Do?

             Looking back over the 30 years that I ran a company that did precision machining of parts, technology changed the way we did business in fundamental way.  In the 1970’s, companies like mine had skilled machinists running manual machine tools.  These employees were hired into apprentice programs and over a period of about three years would advance to a journeyman machinist status.  The advent of computer numeric controlled machine tools changed all that.  The new machines were programmed to adjust spindle speeds, automatically change tools, and guide the cutting tools to shape the parts in an enclosed machine.  What was required then was a highly skilled setup man who could set and calibrate the tools and program the machine tool to run the part.  We no longer needed a skilled machinist to actually run the machine since all an operator had to do is load a part into the machine, close the door and press the cycle start button.  Our shop floors evolved into machine clusters or cells where one operator would run up to three machine tools. We would have a setup specialist to rotate around to set up the lathes and another setup specialist to setup the milling machines.

            The structure of our workforce then was two key employees who we paid the absolute top wages to ensure that they would stay with the company through thick and thin.  We had perhaps 12 to 15 machine operators that would run the machines in the cells but their skill set was such that we could train a new hire with a some mechanical ability to run machines in a matter of hours. They essentially had to load parts into the machines then unload the finished parts.  They would have to measure a few key dimensions on the parts and be able to make tooling offsets to compensate for tool wear. The implication of this structure on current trends in employment in the metal working industry should be obvious.  A small company can keep a small group of key people and cut employment back to the bone when hard times come. Our machine tools cost anywhere between $100,000 and $300,000 apiece and represent a significant investment on the part of a small businessman. When a recession hits and work dries up, the successful business owner will not buy new machine tools and he will lay off machine operators who are much easier to replace than his skilled setup men. When faced with uncertainties about employment costs such as health care cost increases or increased unemployment taxes to cover the massive pool of prolonged unemployed workers, the small business

owner can literally go to the mattresses. It is not uncommon for a company whose business is radically reduced to have office personnel run machines part time and even the owner will take a turn if it is required to have the business survive. I know because as the owner, I have made it a point to be able to setup, program and run any machine tool I had in my shop.

            Against this backdrop, what is the role of government in creating jobs? I have always maintained that the only role of government at any level is to create conditions that allow the private sector to create jobs.  We hear constantly about government job training programs but no matter how many of these programs the government tries to establish, they miss the mark.  I served as President of the local chapter of the National Tooling and Machining Association in Northwest Pennsylvania and one of my initiatives that I undertook with other business owners in our chapter was to create a teaching factory called the Precision Machining Institute.  We convinced machine tool manufacturers to provide us with state of the art machine tools to have on our floor to train our much sought after setup and programmer specialists on the most advanced technologies available.  We also made those machine tools available to the local shop owners to run jobs that they could not tackle on their machine tools they currently had on their shop floors.  In that way, shop owners could try out a machine tool by renting machine time at an hourly rate to develop a new customer or a new capability for the their operation.  The point is that this is a model that works, was developed by private industry and has served as a model for other such installations across the country. I would like the opportunity as your state representative to create training facilities like this in New Hampshire.

            In a nutshell, government can create the proper conditions for economic expansion by cutting taxes, allowing accelerated depreciation on expensive machinery utilized in the business or better yet allow the equipment to be expensed in the year it is purchased. The government should eliminate the minimum wage, quit meddling in health care and forget about government job training programs.  Government must establish reasonable tax policy and make it simple for companies to comply with and make it permanent.  Uncertainty is killing the economy now with temporary extensions of current tax rates, the questionable status of Obamacare, and the threat of massive tax increases on the so called rich who for the most part are small business owners that file their taxes as LLC corporations and hence flow their business income into their personal tax returns.  There is no way a small business like I had would buy a machine tool or hire anyone in this climate of uncertainty.

            The Republican pro business agenda for New Hampshire includes passing the Right to Work legislation that allows workers to choose whether they want to pay union dues, repealing the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) to lower energy costs for business and citizens, and increasing the income exemption from $150,000 to $200,000 before the Business Profit Tax takes effect.  If you elect me to the House of Representatives, I would support all three initiatives

Exciting New Energy Source…Coming Soon? 

        What if there were an abundant source of non-carbon based energy that uses fuel from seawater and the soil?  There is such an energy source whose development is about to take a major step forward this year and consequently is closer to being a reality than the public realizes.  The political class has consistently ignored this possible energy source and has been foisting wind and solar as the “renewable” energies that we should subsidize. 

NIF named Project of the Year 2010

         This remarkable new energy source is Laser Inertial Fusion Energy (LIFE).  Inertial confinement fusion has been the core of Lawrence Livermore Laboratory’s research over the past 20 years with the NOVA Project followed by the National Ignition Facility, which was completed in 2009.  I am intimately aware of the technology and the project since my company, Aetna Machine Company, provided engineering services and prototype machining of parts and assemblies utilized in the facilities.  As a stakeholder in the project I have visited the Lab on numerous occasions over the last 20 years and attended several concept and engineering reviews of the project. 

          Lawrence Livermore Laboratory has developed this technology utilizing the National Ignition Facility (NIF) that was built in the last decade. The facility is an enclosure the size of three football fields that contains 192 lasers that focus on a target housed in a ten-foot aluminum sphere. When the laser fires it replicates the conditions in the middle of the sun to create a fusion reaction.  The facility will conduct a benchmark test this year to see if they can produce a reaction that will generate more energy than was required to trigger the reaction.  This test will culminate 20 years and two other laser projects that led to this scale of a test facility to prove this concept.  Once that test is concluded successfully, it will be merely an engineering problem to build the first prototype power plant.  The project planners believe that prototype will be completed by 2020 and a fleet of power plants will follow by 2030. The target fuel the laser uses is comprised of deuterium and tritium.  The former is the heavy water molecule harvested from seawater and the latter is a lithium derivative that can be separated from soil.  As such the raw materials utilized as fuel are virtually unlimited in their supply.  You can read more about NIF and the LIFE topics if you follow these links. 

https://lasers.llnl.gov/programs/ife/      https://lasers.llnl.gov/about/missions/energy_for_the_future/life/ 

     I am running for State Representative to provide a rational approach to formulate our ongoing energy policies in New Hampshire.  In 2010 the Federal Government subsidized the various forms of energy as follows:

        Natural Gas/ Oil        $  .64  per Megawatt

        Coal                            $ .82    “       “

        Nuclear                     $ 3.14     “       “

        Wind                      $  56.29     “       “

        Solar                  $    775.64     “        “ 

     If the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) is proposing that we have 23 percent of our electricity generated by “renewable” sources,  defined as  Wind and Solar by 2025, can you imagine what your energy bills will be then?  When candidate Obama talked about his Cap and Trade Bill (which is what RGGI is on a regional basis) he said, “under my policies, energy rates will necessarily skyrocket” (his words, not mine!).  Before we let misguided policies saddle residents and business in New Hampshire with runaway electric bills, we should carefully look to alternatives that do exist right over the horizon.  I will proudly serve on the Science, Technology and Energy Committee to make that happen.

Obama Care…..What in the world are they thinking?

            Much to the surprise of most political observers, the Supreme Court upheld Obama Care by a 5-4 margin with the Chief Justice doing an incredible jujitsu in rewriting the bill from the bench to change the individual mandate into a tax.  When the bill was being considered, President Obama argued that the individual Mandate was not a tax.  He pledged to the American people over and over again if they made less than $250,000 a year he would not raise any of their taxes. The Court found that there was no way that the individual mandate could ever pass muster when justified by the Commerce Clause, so it threw Obama a lifeline with the novel tax interpretation. Whether the Federal Government coerces citizen behavior by invoking the Commerce Clause or through the threat of punitive taxation makes no difference to the individual citizen who sees his liberty slipping away.  Right now personal liberty and the Constitution are hanging by a thread. 

            The upshot of this extraordinary action by the Court is to make clear that there is only one path to reversing this terrible impending train wreck for the country.  We must elect Mitt Romney and send enough Republicans to the Senate to ensure the repeal of Obama Care.  Nothing else will save us from single payer nationalized health care which is failing dismally now in Europe.  The lines are drawn and now the people must decide which way this country goes.  I am on the side of the Constitution and the Rule of Law. If you agree, I would appreciate your support.

It's Official...I'm Running

   Why I am running  

      This will be the most important election of our generation.  The country will determine whether we make a fundamental shift back to constitutional government with fiscally responsible and limited government or continue on our way to have the overblown federal government continue to nationalize car companies, the health care industry, banks and the energy sectors of our economy.  Currently the federal government is incurring deficits in excess of $1 trillion per year under President Obama and the Democrat Senate that has not passed a budget in 3 years.  This election will require the electorate to make a choice.  This is not about compromise and meeting halfway on the road to ruin. We either limit government to a reasonable percentage of the Gross National Product or we continue to bankrupt our children and grandchildren sidling them with debts that they will never be able to repay. 

       I want to do my part to return to constitutional government by running for the New Hampshire House of Representatives.  If this election moves the Federal Government to limited constitutional government, it will refocus the country on the 10^th Amendment which reserves all powers not specifically enumerated in the constitution to the States and the People.  A move in this direction will require the States to step up to the plate and reassert their proper role in numerous areas that have been encroached upon by the federal government.  I would be proud to serve in the NH House when this change starts to evolve.

     New Hampshire is one of the states best prepared to make this shift.  We have 400 citizen legislators that each represents approximately 3700 residents.  Making only $100 per year, the representatives do not tend to be lifetime politicians but rather citizens who take it as their civic responsibility to serve their neighbors.  Not having a state sales tax nor an income tax gives rise to the New Hampshire Advantage that make the state a desirable place for people to live and businesses to thrive.  If we were to add the Right to Work legislation to make union membership voluntary, we could attract even more businesses to New Hampshire.  If we were to enact enlightened energy policies to lower New Hampshire’s historically high energy costs, we could enhance economic growth and ease the burden on New Hampshire residents. Given my background and training in engineering and finance and my experience in technologically advanced manufacturing, I could serve on the budgeting committee or on the Science, Technology, and Energy committee in the House.  I feel I could make a significant contribution to either committee in the service of my constituents.

For Immediate Release:

      Richard McClure has announced he is entering the race this fall to represent District 2  (Conway, Eaton, Chatham, and Hale’s Location) in the New Hampshire House of Representatives.  McClure is a retired business owner and has been a resident of the Mount Washington Valley for the last 13 years   

   McClure states the challenge facing the state is creating the conditions for economic growth to benefit both citizens and businesses in the state.  He cites passing the Right to Work legislation is important to make New Hampshire an attractive place for businesses looking to expand or relocate to a business friendly state.  McClure points out that electric rates are 149 percent of the national average and this places a drag on business development and places a burden on local residents.  McClure would look forward to serving on the Science, Technology and Energy Committee if he were to be elected.

      McClure was born in Titusville, Pennsylvania and graduated from Dartmouth College with honors in 1966.  He added a Bachelor of Science degree and an MBA in Finance from the Thayer School of Engineering and Amos Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth in 1968.  McClure spent ten years working for Burroughs Corporation in Detroit Michigan working in Management Systems and Corporate Economic Analysis. He was Manager of Treasurers Administration and Manager of Group Financial Analysis for the Business Machines Group overseeing an operating budget of $400 Million.  While working in the Detroit area, McClure taught Industrial Dynamics and Engineering Economy at Wayne State University. 

     In 1978 McClure joined Aetna Machine Company in Cochranton, PA and was the owner and CEO of the company for the last 30 years.  Aetna Machine Company provides engineering services and precision-machined parts to its customers primarily in energy related industries.  McClure sold the business to his employees in 2011.

     McClure has been active in civic and industry related roles throughout his career. He served as President of the Northwest Pennsylvania Chapter of the National Tooling and Machining Association.  He also was the Chairman of the Political Action Committee of the National Tooling and Machining Association to better represent the business owners concerns with their congressional delegations in Washington.  McClure helped to found and served as a Director of the Precision Machining Institute in Meadville, Pennsylvania.  The Institute was formed to provide training for machinists and tool and die makers to work in local businesses.  McClure served on the Leadership Council of the National Federation of Independent Business.  McClure was on the Board of Corporators for Meadville City Hospital.  McClure coached his son’s hockey teams and served as President of the Crawford County Youth Hockey Association.

     McClure became a resident of New Hampshire in 1999.  He is currently the President of the Hales Location Owners Association and is Treasurer of the North Conway Public Library.  McClure’s wife, Gail, is active in the community volunteering with the Chamber of Commerce and is the head of the Material Girls who make quilts for charities.

     McClure enjoys and wants to work to preserve the North Country’s outdoor environment.  McClure is a lifelong NRA member having hunted and fished all his life.  The McClure family is proud to have two golden retrievers and is grateful to have the outdoor facilities for daily hikes on the trails.