Aren't we still first or second in manufacturing, having been knocked off the top spot only in 2011, with over 19% of the world's total?
We’ve gone from a manufacturing economy to a service economy. Manufacturing hasn’t completely disappeared but it’s just not what it once was. I’m 56 and I can remember factories and small machine shops in my town and the surrounding area of Northern New Jersey were I grew up. Heck, I remember hear the noon-time whistle and the five o’clock whistle. When I graduated high school in ‘75, a lot of my friends who took mechanical drawing(remember that?) got jobs as machinists in tool and die shops. Those days are gone. Can you name one electric appliance made in America anymore?