“OK. Your turn....Prove it.”
It’s right in the article from your second link...maybe you were too quick to copy and didn’t read them. I’m proving it with your own material.
No it isn't.
You wrote "manufacturing in it’s pure sense is down!" and that's what I'm challenging you to prove. Where does the second article say this? It doesn't.
In fact it says the exact opposite...
Here's how these numbers work. We've factory production or manufacturing, they refer to the same thing. That's up here. Then we add in mining and utilities (so, oil and gas production and then the creation of energy from them) to give us industrial production. That's the one that's flat this past month as warm weather meant less energy used.Utilities production slid 2.6 percent as warmer-than-normal temperatures reduced demand for heating. It had fallen 3.0 percent in September.
Which brings us to the larger picture. We're coming out of a very nasty indeed recession and manufacturing output swings down more in recession than the general economy. So, since 2008 factory production has fallen and then risen again. And just over these past couple of quarters it has just again reached an all time peak.
So... maybe I did take the time to read it.