As for your example, the metal working industry, I am up to speed on that. Much more so than you. While my industry classification was chemical, it served numerous industry classifications, of which metal was a major componant. My forte was general metal.
If we point at the one thing that has been the most detrimental to the metal working industry, it would have to be plastics.
Next, we would say US Regulatory Law, of which Environmental Regulatory Law would be the most detrimental.
So, as a generalized statement, we would say that the metal working industry is a shrinking industry. This applies worldwide, and no doubt to a higher degree in the US.
While we can certainly track the shrinkage of metal, we can also track the explosive growth of the food manufaturing industry over the same time period. One trip to the grocery store documents that. And yes Virginia, making hamburgers is a manufacturing process, little different from the process of manufacturing wood shutters or ornamental iron. In fact, Burger King's process is conveyorized.
Now let me return to US regulatory law, or more appropriately, US regulatory "takings".
It is obvious that NAFTA, and other trade agreements, are the one best tool for "working around" regulatory law, whether that reg is in the US, Canada, Mexico, or any nation that participates in the many trade agreements being made thru-out the world. The irony is that you are in lockstep with Public Citizen when it comes to social justice, the AFL-CIO on labor protections, and Earth Justice on the enviro issues. And as this thread points out, Global Research.
In the 19th and 20th century, the agricultural economy gave way to the industrial economy. This was accompanied by a surge of populism/protectionism seeking to forestall the inevitable.
In the 20th and the 21st century, we see the same thing as the industrial economy gives way to the information economy. You backward looking populists/protectionists are no different from those of a 100 years ago.
You can't go back.
Don't even think that I am going to argue with you. Believe it or not I agree that the U.S. is the #1 manufacturer of hamburgers.
Rudeboy, I consider you the expert of experts on posting charts. Could you please post a chart telling us if the U.S. is still #1 manufacturing meatballs since the 1980's?
Our economy has been doing very well, all considered. However as an investor have no wish to go backwards. I do tend to keep an eye on long term forecasts. I do get concerned when I see the indications of recession starting because it means that I have to do major reshuffling to stay ahead of the game.
Please take the time to read what is posted below.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1716494/posts
Excerpts:
A recent Merrill Lynch economic report said that as much as half of the nation's economic growth is related to housing sales, construction and spending from home equity loans.
"The worry here is that a housing decline will have a disproportionate impact on the American consumer," said Gordon B. Fowler, chief investment officer at Glenmede Trust Co., a Philadelphia money management firm.
"Prices went up so much in recent years that now as they come down, it could have a recessionary impact."
Another warning sign is that new-car sales are down about 5 percent from a year ago. This has happened six times over the past 40 years, and in every instance the economy was either lapsing into recession or already in recession.
Perhaps even more troubling is the so-called inversion of the bond yield curve.
Average investors might not understand this issue because it is a bit technical, but market pros place a lot of significance on the difference between short- and long-term U.S. Treasury yields.
Generally, investors demand a higher interest rate yield on, say, a 10-year U.S. Treasury bond than on the shorter-term bonds, to compensate for the risk of higher inflation and interest rates later.
However, in recent months the yields have inverted. The 10-year Treasury note ended the quarter with a yield of 4.63 percent, with the 2-year note slightly higher with a yield of 4.68 percent.
A recession has followed seven out of the last eight times that the yield curve has inverted.
Kofi sends his love.