Posted on 09/03/2007 4:38:11 AM PDT by shrinkermd
The United States makes more manufactured goods today than at any time in history, as measured by the dollar value of production adjusted for inflation -- three times as much as in the mid-1950s, the supposed heyday of American industry. Between 1977 and 2005, the value of American manufacturing swelled from $1.3 trillion to an all-time record $4.5 trillion, according to the Bureau of Economic Analysis.
With less than 5 percent of the world's population, the United States is responsible for almost one-fourth of global manufacturing, a share that has changed little in decades. The United States is the largest manufacturing economy by far. Japan, the only serious rival for that title, has been losing ground. China has been growing but represents only about one-tenth of world manufacturing.
But if the big picture is brighter than many realize, American manufacturing is nevertheless undergoing fundamental change that is exerting enormous pressure on workers.
Imports are rising, now representing a third of all manufactured goods consumed in the country, up from 10 percent in the 1970s.
American exports are rising even faster than imports, but companies face intense price competition, with China, India, Brazil and dozens of other low-wage countries now part of a global marketplace for labor and materials. Manufacturers are redesigning production lines to make them more efficient, substituting machinery for people wherever possible.
So while American American manufacturing is not declining, manufacturing employment has been shrinking dramatically. After peaking in 1979 at 19 million workers, the American manufacturing workforce has since dropped to 14 million, the lowest number since 1950.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
My Mama was the same way. It's typical of folks who lived through the Great Depression. You don't throw ANYTHING away, because you just never know when something bad will happen and you could use that item.
But didn’t I just read Cat was opening a plant in China? How long before those are sent back to the USA?
If this is an expansion of production capabilities — then how long before the dollars are sent back to the USA from the local sales in China?
As you like it.
Did you read the article today about the US leading the entire world (exc Norway) in wealth created per person? Efficiency is not a river in china.
You mean, like the price maybe?
Most of the factory work is done is done by robots..
Educate me. Isn’t it true, theoretically, that an established brand name firm in America, listed on the NYSE, could actually move 100% of its manufacturing abroad, and still see its stock values climb. It’s profits rise because its labor costs decline. It’s stock values on the NYSE go up, and it gives the appearance, then, that the American economy is advancing.
Also the days of working at a same job for life is no longer a reality....
So???? The only reason a company exist is to provide a service or a product at a reasonable price for a profit....
It would be honest to explain these things to American people. A rising stock market, and an APPEARANCE of national wealth from looking at the listings on the NYSE do not necessarily mean that the common man in America is always going to have a job in the manufacturing sector, if that’s what he hopes to have. A name brand firm, with its head offices in the United States could have rising stock values even if it employs no American manufacturing labor (theoretically). That’s my “So.” Let’s just tell people that.
I don’t believe that the United States government should be in the business of doing any kind of socio-economic engineering that especially favors companies that move all its manufacturing abroad. If companies do so, that’s fine, but it should be without EITHER hindrances or help from the Fed.
I agree with the premise of your post but I don’t get the restaurant menu reference, read from right to left?
BTT for debate with liberal union buddie
I wasn’t being defensive or sarcastic... I was telling the truth. Again the days of working at the same job for life is no longer there.. I don’t like to live in a protectionist economy.. It has been always a failure.. As for the common man, well the common man shouldn’t depend on the government for their job. The common man should find ways to better themselves....
All your lumber and building materials are made domestically.
John Deere, Caterpillar, and Agco building construction, farm and timber equipment.
Hershey Foods, Tyson(yuck), Campbell, DelMonte, Nissin making food.
Nearly every glass and plastic bottle, cap, label and contents.
Domestically produced wine.
Office furniture from Haworth, Steelcase, and Knoll.
Paper from Hammermill, International and Weyerhause.
Planes from Boeing, Beech, Cessna and Piper.
Need I go on?
That show is "must see TV" in this house. It's amazing what he finds!!!!
A yard sale at your house might do the trick if you don’t like all that stuff filling your basement.
Americans should also educate themselves and stop and think about all these reports of prosperity which are not based on what is happening on the ground in thousands of American towns and communities, and may not really apply there.
I’m advocating fuller explanations of (1.) how these reports are compiled; (2.) who is actually making the money; (3.) who are the people getting the jobs - are they Americans or foreigners); (4.) etc. Many such reports are dishonest by virtue of the fact that they are a half-truth; they tell only part of the real story.
Dig a little and you’ll probably find that a hamburger today is considered equivalent to a tractor or milling machine, bolt of cloth, or a television set, etc.
— A fact free assertion. Why don’t you do the digging and present a link to the evidence for this?
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