[A. Pole]

The newsletter reports that China was the world's largest machine tool consumer in 2002 ($5,696m), followed by Germany ($4,815.2m), Japan ($3,441m) and USA ($3,324.8m). The UK ($689.9m) now lies at eleventh place after Spain, Canada, Taiwan, France and South Korea. Italy as the world's fifth largest machine tool consumer (US$ 2,931.5m).

Good measure of future productive capacity (unless you count lawyers). USA between Japan and Italy?

[oceanview]

the US will (should) be alot like Italy, in that the Italians manufacture some very specialized items, high quality, high price, but they have a market for them. All the top baby products are Italian (cribs, high chairs, strollers, furniture) for example. US manufacturers in areas under intense competition from foreign countries need to start going this route. I've read several stories about how the entire North Carolina furniture industry is evaporating at an incredible rate.