FLINT (WJRT) -
(02/15/12) - President Barack Obama is continuing to spread his message for improving the country's economy, which he initially outlined during his State of the Union Address in January.
The president sent his deputy commerce secretary to tour a Flint packaging factory Wednesday morning.
It was a homecoming of sorts for the Acting Deputy U.S. Commerce Secretary Rebecca Blank. She's a Michigan native and was the Dean at U of M's Ford School for Public Policy.
Blank spent Wednesday morning on a behind-the-scenes tour of Genesee Packaging on Dort Highway in Flint. It's one of three factories Genesee operates in the area.
The company produces cardboard boxes and cartons of all shapes and sizes. Its biggest client is GM.
"If President Obama had not stepped in and done something with the automotive industry, not only would the car companies disappear, but the suppliers would disappear as well," said Genesee Packaging Founder and President Willie Artis.
Artis says his company is one of those suppliers that was spared.
"This is a company that really stands on the front lines of America's resurging manufacturing economy," said Blank.
Blank brought a message from directly from the president.
"Keeping manufacturing strong is important for American jobs, and jobs is what we are focused on," she said.
Blank pointed out investments in President Obama's 2013 budget proposal she says will help manufacturers. For example, $1 billion to create a research and development partnership between governments, universities, and the private sector; $6 million dollars to attract companies back to areas that have lost a lot of jobs; and no tax breaks for companies that move operations overseas.
"We think that budget is going to flow down to us. We really believe sincerely that we're going to be part of it," said Artis.
President Obama himself discussed manufacturing and its role in improving the country's economy during a visit to the Master Lock factory in Milwaukee Wednesday.
