What we have lost in the interim is the vertically integrated infrastructure that won WWII. We have pieces in place, but we need the continuity from the mines to the steel mills and the machine shops; from the farms to the railheads to the ports. From the cottonfields to the fabric mills to the seamstresses to the retail outlet. Too many pieces of the puzzle have disappeared, atrophied, outsourced or been denigrated as beneath us.
Self-sufficiency and security start with vertical integration; then we move to strategic alliance with like-minded freedom-loving countries next to fill the gaps (rare minerals, safe passage, etc.)
Lastly we negotiate with unfriendlies to accomplish goals.
The US entered the 1980's as the biggest machine tool builder in the world and exited number 5, behind such industrial powerhouses as Italy.