"We Should Take More Pride in Our Manufacturing Dominance; We Still Make LOTS of Stuff Here"

[pampango]

http://mjperry.blogspot.com/2011/01/we-should-take-more-pride-in-our-global.html



There are frequent claims that “nothing is made in America anymore,” because all of the manufacturing jobs and production have been outsourced to places like China, Mexico, and Korea (for example, Donald Trump makes that claim, as Don Boudreaux points out here). Such claims about U.S. manufacturing have been circulating so persistently and for so long, that most people now blindly accept these myths, even though the empirical evidence provides a completely different story—a thriving and growing U.S. manufacturing sector.

The chart above is featured today on The Enterprise Blog, and helps to illustrate America's "manufacturing might" as the world's largest manufacturing nation, by FAR.

In my post, I conclude that:

"The decline, demise, and death of America’s manufacturing sector has been greatly exaggerated. America still makes a ton of stuff, and we make more of it now than ever before in history, but we’re able to do it with a fraction of the workers that would have been required in the past. We’re still the world’s leading manufacturing economy by far, thanks to the world-class productivity of American manufacturing workers, the most productive in the world. Instead of bashing China, Korea, and Mexico for competing against our manufacturing sector and exaggerating the decline of our manufacturing sector, Americans should take more pride and celebrate our status as the world’s leading manufacturer."

I don't know about taking "more pride". Manufacturing has been down everywhere, but China, since the start of the Great Recession. And the fact that more output requires fewer workers is a difficult pill to swallow.

[rfranklin]

1. Who cares if there are no jobs and no increase in salaries...

the top one percent are making out like bandits. Virtually everyone else is getting screwed.

[On the Road]

2. It Makes a Huge Difference

If the diagnosis if off, the prescription will be misguided.

[ejpoeta]

3. hey, my husband just told me he's getting a 5% raise and a bonus.

I figure it will be just enough to put us over the cap for the state health insurance plan we currently qualify for just barely. That means we'll have to go on the one through bob's work with the $5000 deductible.

[GKirk]

5. Are you saying

it would make sense to turn the raise down?

[ejpoeta]

9. he told his boss awhile ago that unless he got a raise equalling

$15000 then it would not be worth it. It's like making $200 too much to qualify for food stamps (which we do right now as it stands). We were just under the cap for the insurance. It's not that i don't want to pay for insurance.... but $5000 deductible!! that's worse than the one I had when I had my youngest daughter. I met my deductible that year, but I still owe money to the hospital. might as well just put the money i would be paying to the insurance in an account in case i need to go to the doctor or something. I am just at the end of my rope. I mean, we aren't poor.... but our oldest has ADHD and takes ritalin la and with our insurance before it was a $40 copay so we ended up with the generic. and you can definitely tell the difference. I don't care what people say!! With that you could. THe kids should be able to stay on child health plus, but I am not sure if the coverage would change as far as the copays and such.

[GKirk]

14. What a crazy system

where you get a raise and it costs you money.

[jwirr]

17. I raised my family as a single mother in the 50-70s and at that time

it was well known that many of us did not get jobs (mostly low-paying) because we would lose our healthcare. That changed somewhat as the years went by but it still effects many. When they realize that these programs should be written to encourage work instead of punish it they will be on the right track. And businesses will benefit also.

[DJ13]

4. +1

That chart is deceiving, it makes it look like we've had a steady increase in manufacturing instead of the massive factory closings that has taken place since 2000.

[MineralMan]

6. Thanks for posting that. It gives the truth a boost.

Recced, with no effect.

We are still the #1 manufacturing nation on the planet. Despite what everyone seems to think.

[Romulox]

7. That exalted "productivity" is fueled by stagnant wages, lack of vacation time, worst pensions, etc.

:hi:

[JDPriestly]

8. Do we really produce more manufactured goods or do we just

produce more expensive manufactured goods? That article is very vague. What products are we manufacturing? Mostly military stuff? Do we produce ordinary consumer items that we really need like pots and pans and clothing and children's toys? How much electronic stuff do we produce? Or are we just mostly producing war toys? What percentage of automobile parts do we produce?

How does the amount we manufacture compare to how much we consume?

And how do the authors of that article define "manufacture"? Are they counting the final, wholesale (or retail) value of products assembled in the US from parts manufactured elsewhere?

I ask these questions because the article does not pass my common sense test. It does not reflect my experience when I shop.

I suspect the article is either simply propaganda or inaccurate or possibly a lot of double-talk.

[chaska]

10. If by "we" you mean robots.

[XanaDUer]

11. Okay, overweight teens does not count as making "lots of stuff"

I guess you could see it as bumping up the health care industry for pre-diabetes and diabetes.

[Urban Prairie]

12. Hope that UN chart doesn't include fast food output, like sandwiches, pizzas, hotdogs, and burgers

like the past Shrub administration allegedly attempted to include in being listed as "manufacturing" output instead of being service-related, in order to inflate their manufacturing figures in the BLS.

[OHdem10]

13. When GE 's President says turning our country into a Service

Economy failed and this Service Economy simply cannot
sustain our country, I listen. He also said we must
get our Manufacturing back up to about 15% of GDP.

This illustrates clearly, our mfg base has been gutted
and this has been reported in magazine articles,
and on some TV Programs.

I do not know one person who bashes our mfg. Most
criticize policies which shipped mfg jobs overseas.

[Motown_Johnny]

15. Are they taking the Bush approach and including fast food as a manufactured good?

Or are they just trying to hide the fact that we manufacture a much smaller percentage of the total amount of goods manufactured in the world than we used to?

Sure, the number of items has gone up. That means nothing. Population has gone up too.

[jwirr]

16. Weapons are very expensive and we sell a lot of them.

[Gin]

18. 2 items still made in the USA...rat & mouse traps.....found that out

by needing one....ewwww.