The De-Industrialization of the USA

General General Discussion
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19 Facts About The De-industrialization of America That Will Blow Your Mind
http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/19-facts-about-the-deindustrialization-of-america-that-will-blow-your-mind

The United States is rapidly becoming the very first “post-industrial” nation on the globe. All great economic empires eventually become fat and lazy and squander the great wealth that their forefathers have left them, but the pace at which America is accomplishing this is absolutely amazing. It was America that was at the forefront of the industrial revolution. It was America that showed the world how to mass produce everything from automobiles to televisions to airplanes. It was the great American manufacturing base that crushed Germany and Japan in World War II. But now we are witnessing the deindustrialization of America. Tens of thousands of factories have left the United States in the past decade alone. Millions upon millions of manufacturing jobs have been lost in the same time period. The United States has become a nation that consumes everything in sight and yet produces increasingly little. Do you know what our biggest export is today? Waste paper. Yes, trash is the number one thing that we ship out to the rest of the world as we voraciously blow our money on whatever the rest of the world wants to sell to us. The United States has become bloated and spoiled and our economy is now just a shadow of what it once was. Once upon a time America could literally outproduce the rest of the world combined. Today that is no longer true, but Americans sure do consume more than anyone else in the world. If the deindustrialization of America continues at this current pace, what possible kind of a future are we going to be leaving to our children?

Any great nation throughout history has been great at making things. So if the United States continues to allow its manufacturing base to erode at a staggering pace how in the world can the U.S. continue to consider itself to be a great nation? We have created the biggest debt bubble in the history of the world in an effort to maintain a very high standard of living, but the current state of affairs is not anywhere close to sustainable. Every single month America does into more debt and every single month America gets poorer.

So what happens when the debt bubble pops?

The deindustrialization of the United States should be a top concern for every man, woman and child in the country. But sadly, most Americans do not have any idea what is going on around them.

For people like that, take this article and print it out and hand it to them. Perhaps what they will read below will shock them badly enough to awaken them from their slumber.

The following are 19 facts about the deindustrialization of America that will blow your mind…

#1 The United States has lost approximately 42,400 factories since 2001. About 75 percent of those factories employed over 500 people when they were still in operation.

#2 Dell Inc., one of America’s largest manufacturers of computers, has announced plans to dramatically expand its operations in China with an investment of over $100 billion over the next decade.

#3 Dell has announced that it will be closing its last large U.S. manufacturing facility in Winston-Salem, North Carolina in November. Approximately 900 jobs will be lost.

#4 In 2008, 1.2 billion cellphones were sold worldwide. So how many of them were manufactured inside the United States? Zero.

#5 According to a new study conducted by the Economic Policy Institute, if the U.S. trade deficit with China continues to increase at its current rate, the U.S. economy will lose over half a million jobs this year alone.

#6 As of the end of July, the U.S. trade deficit with China had risen 18 percent compared to the same time period a year ago.

#7 The United States has lost a total of about 5.5 million manufacturing jobs since October 2000.

#8 According to Tax Notes, between 1999 and 2008 employment at the foreign affiliates of U.S. parent companies increased an astounding 30 percent to 10.1 million. During that exact same time period, U.S. employment at American multinational corporations declined 8 percent to 21.1 million.

#9 In 1959, manufacturing represented 28 percent of U.S. economic output. In 2008, it represented 11.5 percent.

#10 Ford Motor Company recently announced the closure of a factory that produces the Ford Ranger in St. Paul, Minnesota. Approximately 750 good paying middle class jobs are going to be lost because making Ford Rangers in Minnesota does not fit in with Ford’s new “global” manufacturing strategy.

#11 As of the end of 2009, less than 12 million Americans worked in manufacturing. The last time less than 12 million Americans were employed in manufacturing was in 1941.

#12 In the United States today, consumption accounts for 70 percent of GDP. Of this 70 percent, over half is spent on services.

#13 The United States has lost a whopping 32 percent of its manufacturing jobs since the year 2000.

#14 In 2001, the United States ranked fourth in the world in per capita broadband Internet use. Today it ranks 15th.

#15 Manufacturing employment in the U.S. computer industry is actually lower in 2010 than it was in 1975.

#16 Printed circuit boards are used in tens of thousands of different products. Asia now produces 84 percent of them worldwide.

#17 The United States spends approximately $3.90 on Chinese goods for every $1 that the Chinese spend on goods from the United States.

#18 One prominent economist is projecting that the Chinese economy will be three times larger than the U.S. economy by the year 2040.

#19 The U.S. Census Bureau says that 43.6 million Americans are now living in poverty and according to them that is the highest number of poor Americans in the 51 years that records have been kept.

So how many tens of thousands more factories do we need to lose before we do something about it?

How many millions more Americans are going to become unemployed before we all admit that we have a very, very serious problem on our hands?

How many more trillions of dollars are going to leave the country before we realize that we are losing wealth at a pace that is killing our economy?

How many once great manufacturing cities are going to become rotting war zones like Detroit before we understand that we are committing national economic suicide?

The deindustrialization of America is a national crisis. It needs to be treated like one.

If you disagree with this article, I have a direct challenge for you. If anyone can explain how a deindustrialized America has any kind of viable economic future, please do so below in the comments section.

America is in deep, deep trouble folks. It is time to wake up.

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Yeah, but USA makes the best gun accessories… :haha:

Seriously though, we are indeed in deep doo-doo… for a long time now. But now it is coming to a head…

No easy answers either… as it would mean we, the USA, have to admit we live FAR, FAR above our means, and I too don’t want that to change… :eek:

Rmpl

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No, it would mean we shitcan NAFTA and outsourcing to the third world. It would also mean that factory workers would have to accept a “reasonable wage.”

I know PLENTY of people who are out of work who would GLADLY accept a job making cars at 1985 wage for that job. It is more than they are currently making.

There was a time we made things, and the things we made lasted a long time. Unlike the crap bought from China, you could buy a lot of things one time. I remember when TVs used to last 20 years or more. Of course that was when they were made in the US.

I just replaced my lawn mower. It was 18 years old. It was a Briggs and Straton engine made in the US. I bought the SAME kind of lawn mower with a B&S engine, now made in China. First one died in the first week. The replacement ran for a month and died, had to be fixed under warranty. I didn’t used to buy warranties, but things used to be made in the US.

The bottom line is people need a job, and that means you have to do something that requires workers. If you aren’t building things in your country, there are fewer jobs.

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regulations and taxes have chased manufacturing away

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Don’t forget the almighty union.

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Fixed.

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Can we add environmentalists or is that covered under regulations?

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good data

thanks

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The solution, if there is one possible, is complex and I don’t know which way is right, as any side as winners and losers… To get “Made in the USA” back on its feet and COMPETE WITH THE CHEAP LABOR of other countries, USA workers would have to work at McDonald’s wages, or lower. Why else is Walmart the most POPULAR and frequented RETAIL STORE in the USA? We like stuff CHEAP! There is QUALITY out there but FEW can afford that NICHE market…

So we put up TARIFFS, IMPORT RESTRICTIONS and the like to keep the cheap stuff out that kills our manufacturing base… Then what?

HUGE PRICE INCREASES to us in the USA…

This “YING & YANG” of economics is beyond my understanding… I like the way we live NOW (like the Kings and Royalty of olden days, even better), but I know it is KILLING our country, creating a caste of POOR and RICH with very few in the middle…

I don’t know what the answer is (actually I do, as I wait for a KINGDOM to be established one day, but till then) if someone can show it to me, I’d fight for it… So far BOTH PARTIES take us down, just on different paths…

Rmpl

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Lets not forget China manipulates the value of their currency and is guilty of countless human rights violations with no regard of environmental ramifications

There is no free trade with China. That is a myth. China has the game rigged at our expense, which in my mind means we should tariff the shit out of them if they want to sell goods here.

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Part of this, too, is profits. Another thread brought this up but companies like Arcteryx were well known for their quality top notch stuff that used to be made in either Canada or the USA. Their gear was/is on the high side even amongst the current civilian oriented gear. Maybe 2 years ago they started manufacturing the same gear overseas but there was no price drop. 3 years ago you could get a made in Canada fleece top for ~$150, and today its around the same price but made in Bangladesh or some other Asian country.

American/Euro countries see Asia as a cheap place to make goods yet still charge high prices for them. The retail price on many of these phones mentioned in the OP is 300-500 dollars but it probably cost them 15 dollars to make.

My wife USED to be all into the high dollar purses, and she is not anymore after I explained to her they are probably made in the same China factory that makes purses sold at Target. China has gov owned companies that make numerous things, and different “brands” all buy from maybe 2-3 sources. I simply refuse to pay top dollar prices for China shit, and we have multiple reasons why that is the case today. Burdensome regulations, high taxes, unions, and profit all come to mind. Why would a company build a phone here for $100 when they can buy a China made one for $15? Even if the failure rate is 1 in 4 they still make more money having them built there AND they don’t have to deal with a single US manufacturer or worker.

So Ill hold on my 2007 purchased Arcteryx jacket with the “Made in Canada” tag, and continue to bypass the equally as expensive jackets I see on REI’s shelves but in 2010 they say “Made in Bangladesh”.

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Indeed, the fact that we’re remotely in the competition shows that we should be able to outstrip every other supposedly advanced nation if we do something as simple as allowing government to be small and allow markets to dictate a larger part of the economy.

Unions aren’t a bad thing. Unions loaded with useless plutocrats with zero accountability to employers, employees, and customers which are politically well connected ARE disastrous.

The concept of regulatory compliance being a cost is very well known - to those in business. For those whose primary qualification for public office is (self) service in other public offices or community organization are simply not going to understand why idiotic legislation can add costs detrimenting both public AND private sector revenue.

The same goes for ‘jobs creation’. Employing people looks great on paper, but paying otherwise capable people to perform useless tasks or oversee pointless programs, or simply participate in corrupt schemes is just as deleterious to government confidence and GDP.

Next:the “quality of life” benchmarks that get used to push large leftist schemes. Home ownership, and making decent wages are all good things, but pursuing statistics on those at the astronomical costs that have already been hazardously proposed and time tested proof that including moral hazard into finances inevitably leads to honest suffering.

Dumb people (and yes, I mean those who are simply too stupid to make a reasoned analysis) can’t fathom that installing government into every facet of an economy only has one eventual result.

It may sound selfish for somebody like me who stands to be well off to push for this, but look at the amazing charity engine that is the American populace - a marginal increase of just 1% of our GNP can equate to hundreds of millions of dollars that actually saves lives through food aid, medical aid, and economic programs.
The same folks who claim that’s what we should pursue, they fail to realize that it comes down to distribution of power. Allowing individuals to control this inevitably leads to more lives positively touched, while centralizing this leads to stuff like ‘food-for-oil’.

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Completely absurd.

The idea that it is cheaper to build entire factories overseas, then ship products to the US than it is the just make them here is as laughable as the notion that you can’t find Americans willing to do work currently done by illegals.

It’s a lie.

Those costs are artificial and the result of unions, regulations and the like. You can pay a factory worker twice that of minimum wage and still be cost effective in the marketplace.

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The bad thing is that Americans are responsible for most of this.

From the unions, to the big wigs, to the Government.

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Thus my tagline below I have used for over a two decades… Webster hit it dead on…

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Care to offer any examples of USA made products that are equal in retail sales price to a Chinese product?

Rmpl

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I wonder what would happen economically if legislation was passed to ban out sourcing? Let’s say the law stats that if a company president/owner(s)/etc live in the US and operate the business from the US, they have to employ US citizens only.

What would happen to wages, economy, etc?

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in the 1950s-60s Americans had the highest wages in the world, yet our products were the cheapest. We dont have to work for sweatshop wages to have the products made here. Govt needs to get out of the way.

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In that era the Chinese were mostly on bicycles and massive fleets of ocean-going super-freighters didn’t exist… among other examples.

Apples and oranges…

The only way I see to re-establish manufacturing here in the USA is to shut the IMPORTS to a trickle… As long as cheap imports come in the jobs and factories will leave.

But the unintended consequences could be dangerous… That would be WAR to many nations…

Rmpl

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Who gets to define reasonable… with the prices of cars, food, housing, lights and the rest of the crap they stuff down a families throat (like having to buy TP for the schools and papers for the tests to be printed on) people can live on minimum wage and we all can’t be business owners… owners have to have someone to work for them or they wont succeed.