Why is nothing produced in the US anymore? what is up with that? (Representatives, employment)

[ladihawkae]

What about the American trucker? Where are the Senator's demanding relief for our rights? (http://www.examiner.com/x-31836-Dallas-Trucking-Examiner~y2010m5d19-What-about-the-American-trucker-Where-are-the-Senators-demanding-relief-for-our-rights - broken link)

[Omaha Rocks]

Simple: Too expensive.

[irspow]

Government regulation and taxation. Why would a business operate in such an environment unless they absolutely had to?

[Indentured Servant]

In a globalized free market in which captilism, in many forms, dominates the world......you cannot sustain a high wage nation and also sustain historical levels of produciton. Hence, if you want increased production you will have to sacrafice high wages.

That said, contrary to popular belief, most of the production jobs lost in America have been lost to AUTOMATION and not offshoring. However, even automation can be done cheaper in low wage nation because the overhead cost are cheaper......except for the cost of getting the finished or value added goods back to the US.

[elnina]

It seems as if the country that used to make everything is on the brink of making nothing. Even before the recession, plants were hemorrhaging work to foreign competitors with low-cost labor. And some companies were moving production overseas. But manufacturing in the United States is not dead or even dying.
The United States remains by far the world's leading manufacturer by value of goods produced.

So, what is still made in the US?

aircraft, missiles and space-related equipment
autos and auto parts
farming equipment
energy products
computer chips
fighter jets
processed food
personal hygiene products
prescription drugs
air curtains
Household names like GE, General Motors, International Business Machines, Boeing and Hewlett-Packard are among the largest manufacturers by revenue.

U.S. companies have shifted toward high-end manufacturing as the production of low-value goods has moved overseas. This has resulted in lower prices for shoppers and higher profits for companies.

About 12.7 million U.S. workers, or 8 percent of the labor force, still held manufacturing jobs as of last month. Fifty years ago, 14.6 million people, or 28 percent of all U.S. workers, were employed in factories.
Thirty years ago, U.S. producers made 80 percent of what the country consumed, now it is about 65 percent.
In the 1960s, the United States made 98 percent of its shoes. It now imports more than 90 percent of its footwear. The iconic red Radio Flyer wagons for children are now made in China. Even the Apple iPod comes
In a box that says it was made in China but “designed in California”.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/20/bu....20332814.html

[Drover]

Originally Posted by ladihawkae

Why is nothing produced in the US anymore? what is up with that?

The question assumes a false premise. Historically speaking, U.S. manufacturing output is near a record high, diminished only by the recent recession. People assume that shrinking manufacturing employment is the result of shrinking manufacturing output, but that's not the case. It's just that the increasing automation and productivity gains of manufacturing output has led to a secular decline of manufacturing employment -- simply speaking, it takes fewer man-hours to produce more goods. And this is not an American phenomenon or even an in industrialized-world phenomenon either. Manufacturing employment has been in global secular decline since roughly the late 1970s.

And to the extent that the the industrialized world has invested untold trillions over the last several decades educating its workforce so that they would not have to settle for unskilled jobs, it should be no surprise that manufacturing jobs represent a rapidly shrinking proportion of the workforce in the industrialized world. Unskilled labor jobs are best left for those nations that still have large unskilled labor pools.

[goldengrain]

This underscores the need for more and more well educated people, ready and able to learn technical skills and apply them with creativity - and the constant need for re-training and remaining current in skills.

There is no longer the comfort of training in colleges for 4 to 8 years and being set for a vocation for life.

I pity the families in which kids are not bright enough or cannot 'think on their feet'. We are all competing in a world marketplace and it is brains and training which will separate the haves from the have-nots.

Any parent who allows his kid not to take education deadly seriously is making a big mistake. Any child who thinks he can just drift through his schooling is selling himself short.

The corporations in the U.S. have shown no allegiance to the country and have gone where there is the most financial advantage to them. THey have managed to get passed bills that allow them to do this without retraining the American laborers that they fired. They have moved their 'headquarters' to places that require little of them in the matter of good citizenship and taxation.

The new loyalties/citizenship of the future will be more and more to multinationals and not individual countries. Government has less and less control over these corporations and our representatives pass more and more legislation favoring corporations over citizens. It is ironic that some of the very people who are damaged the most by these policies, those waving flags and carrying bibles, are the ones who are voting for the very policies that are hurting them and what they profess to love the most.

Look at the outsourcing of jobs, the illegal immigrants, the recent financial collapse - all of these caused by lack of government regulation or lack of enforcement of regulations on business. It used to be that a person owned his home and that was inviolate. Then it was found that the government could seize that property if it were for the public good, like building a super highway. Now, the Supreme Court has said it is illegal to take your property away if it blocks some business from building its new superstore in yur neighborhood.

We actually NEED government regulation of business. Both parties are sell outs to these corporations because all politicians depend on those big corporate contributions for re election campaigns.

[Memphis1979]

Originally Posted by Omaha Rocks

Simple: Too expensive.

This is the simple answer, yes, but its a lot more complicated than just that.

American workers expect to much money, because of inflated Union wages from the 60's, 70's, and 80's. There are guys at Delphi in Detroit making over 75 dollars an hour, with benefits and everything included, for assembly line work. Thats just to much money. (Its also one reason why auto work in the southern states is growing, lower wage expectations).

There are also the working conditions and regulations that we have here in the states. While no one can say that a safe work environment is important, and should be done, China doesn't do that with their workers (yet). As of now, you don't have to do all the safety measures we have in place over there, or in Mexico.

Also, you have to blame the automakers themselves. They didn't innovate enough, keeping gas mileage low, betting the bank on big pick up trucks, and not worrying about cars. Now they are starting to turn that around, but its going to be a while.

Lots of other reasons, but those are the big three, in my opinion.

What are we making?

Google, Amazon, Wal-Mart, FOOD and everything involved in farming, and military supplies. Lots of other things.

And, you might be worried about the truckers now, just wait 10 to 15 years. Cars are already starting to drive themselves with active cruise control, parking assist, etc. We are starting to make drone aircraft that are fully autonomous.

Why wouldn't we start allowing trucks to drive themselves across country? Also, high speed rail is starting to tickle some peoples fancy.

Those are the things coming. If you're a trucker, I'd start looking for employment elsewhere. On a bright note, imagine how much cheaper goods could be, with a decreased transportation cost.

[Indentured Servant]

I am a person who does not like to make short term explanation in regards to evolved phenomenon. There was an evolution, that’s on going, that explains why the percentage of US manufactured goods are at ever decreasing levels, notwithstanding small absolute gains in goods produced. Nothing can be explained without traversing backwards to the actions and reaction s that culminate into a moment of time.

The US ascended to world dominance as a result of the misfortunes of Europe, the previous world powers, as a result of WWI and especially WWII. The war essentially destroyed all the world’s major economies, except that of the USA. Thus, the USA became the de facto world economic power with many of the brightest minds emigrating from Europe, after or during the war, to our soil. Essentially this created a global monopoly for the US economy as other countries needed our good, services and financing. We became the world’s largest net exporter and world’s largest creditor, increasing opportunity and our standard of living in the process, as our companies could afford to pay high wages when the world was a captive market to our goods due to know competition elsewhere.

In essence our standard of living and production rise, post WWII was the product of the absence of competition. The absence of competition globally and the internal collusion of American companies within an industry sector also allowed inferior quality to ferment. There was even a degree of planned obsolescence born from the collusion to create product turnover to increase profits for the industry. This also led to increased production and hence increased opportunities. Companies were making millions and billions in profits and workers demanded their share of those profits….and rightfully so because the workers high income created many tertiary opportunities for others when they spent it.

To make a long detailed story short………our position was unsustainable. Our fortunes and production rose as a result of the absence of competition in the world and as Europe and Japan recovered and new economic powers such as China and India came online with capitalism, our fortunes have been in decline. However, that decline has been profoundly masked through debt and a fiat system of currency after we went off the Gold Standard in the early 70’s under Nixon. We floated the currency in order to meet our obligations to foreign creditors, who wanted to be paid in Gold and we could not afford it.

Our country is in real bad economic shape and it has nothing to do with left vs right politics. The changing world has changed our fortunes. We went from being the world’s largest net exporter and the world’s largest creditor in the 50’s to being the world’s largest net importer (trade deficit) and the world’s largest debtor nation.....TODAY. Our fortunes rose from the former and will, in turn, fall from the latter.

[aquamaster]

Originally Posted by ladihawkae

What about the American trucker? Where are the Senator's demanding relief for our rights? (http://www.examiner.com/x-31836-Dallas-Trucking-Examiner%7Ey2010m5d19-What-about-the-American-trucker-Where-are-the-Senators-demanding-relief-for-our-rights - broken link)

Define "nothing". I must exclude a lot of trucks and cars made in the U.S. The output of the two line of Boeing AC (Boeing and MD) and tons of other things. One has to truly understand economics to get a grip on what is happening, and what will always happen.

As a nation enters into an industrialized basis, where industry and manufacturing become a significant aspect, they start manufacturing low-end products. Simpler, less complicated, less-demanding "builds". As their manufacturing base matures, they start taking on more and more higher-end, more sophisticated, more difficult "builds". Along they way, they start dropping off the manufacturing of "entry-level" products, the manufacturing of which will be handled by newly emerging manufacturing countries.

The same sort of things exists on the micro level where companies start with simpler builds and soon graduate to more sophisticated products and processes, farming out the simpler stuff to others.

For example, Japan used to manufacture very cheap, low-end cars. Now they build world-class top-end cars, and Korea builds the lower-end cars.

America tends to build higher-end products now, like the best airliners and power plants in the world.