For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use. Although warnings about the crisis engulfing American manufacturing have been intensifying for months, the sector´s woes continue to be significantly underestimated – certainly by official Washington and even by many manufacturers themselves. In fact, despite the current boost in growth fueled by deficit spending, tax cuts, mortgage re-financings, and other one-time stimuli, the decline of American manufacturing is fast nearing the point of irreversibility – at least from the standpoint of restoring a critical mass of industries producing in the United States to world leadership. The nation, in short, faces a...