Although the American economy has grown by about 2 million jobs this year, none of them are in the manufacturing sector. This is alarming news–not just for manufacturing workers, but for the economy at large.

Why is this such bad news? After all, consumer spending has leveled out, and unemployment continues to fall. Even gas prices are relatively low. Aren’t these signs that the economy is strong enough to weather any possible economic “storms” on the horizon? Well, not exactly.

Despite these indicators, people’s faith in the economy is pretty low. Fears about job security are high, reflecting a generally pessimistic attitude among the nation.…