People always talk about how the US has "lost" manufacturing. It's still the second largest manufacturer by a huge margin (three times the next highest, 15.5% of world output vs 5%), only being beaten out by China (27.5%). And, when compared per capita, it out-manufactures even China.
replyThe numbers: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manufacturing#List_of_countrie...
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reply> We did lose manufacturing jobs, but not because we "sold" them, it's because productivity has increased so much.
replyIt's because of both.
Mature economies would do well to hold onto some basic manufacturing capacity as a matter of national security. Or at the very least, retain some of that capacity within the sphere of close and trusted allies, assuming allies of that type can even be maintained by the US at this point.
Is there any evidence that we aren't doing that? For example, U.S. steel manufacturing is down 40% from the peak in 1973, but we still manufacture 80-90 Mt/yr domestically, which is more than enough for national security purposes. That's roughly the same level we had during the 1980s, at the height of the Cold War.
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