Does the United States Make Anything Anymore?

Originally posted by yellowcard
The United States is still the largest manufacturer of goods on the face of the earth...I don't know where someone got the idea that we don't make anything anymore.

That may be true but the average consumer/worker in the US buys most of his consumables from China these days. I can just look around the room I am in right now and see about 2/3 of the manufactured products are made outside the US.

of course they do boy. How about them all American Ford's=) to go with a juicy american style grilled steak. Steak and Mustangs. Hail America! =)

Originally posted by dawnstar
hey we're number one when it comes to producing debt!!!
child production seems to be going strong also.....I hear that we can no mass produce them, 8 at a time!!

sorry, but, well.......what can I say, we do seem to do a great job at some things...

yes, we still produce things, both me and my husband produce products, or in my husband's case, the machines and tools needed to produce the products...

production workers just aren't that valued by society anymore though, so well, even if we managed to kick the old dusty production lines into full gear, well, many of the machinists have moved on, and no one wanted to take their place, and that goes along with many of the other skilled trades that composed "production". what can I say, who wants to go through the hassle of learning a trade that has wages that are deminishing over time when one can become a player in an investment bank and be a millionaire by 30?
oh, well, it's like that though, that which you neglect often seems to fade away.

I see many Mexican roofing crews around here doing residential re-roofs and new builds. They do a good job but the primary reasons they are here are the reason you mention. There is some truth to the fact that americans by and large dont have the gumption for it anymore.

I have checked on competitive pricing between what these Mexican work crews are getting per job and its nothing to sneeze at for a couple of locals working down at the warehouse.

Originally posted by Biosynth
of course they do boy. How about them all American Ford's=) to go with a juicy american style grilled steak. Steak and Mustangs. Hail America! =)

Yea, just give ol Joe a mustang in the driveway, a twelve pack, steak and a football game and we were living in paradise.

What a bunch of stupid fools we have been.

Some of you are just silly.

From Time Magazine

China will gradually take over the role of the US as the world's largest manufacturer but will do this only by 2020, with the US's position in the global league table of manufacturers remaining surprisingly strong, according to an authoritative economic study.

curiouscapitalist.blogs.time.com...

This report only goes to 2005 but ranks output per country on major food items

www.fao.org...

The US is number 1 in over half of them.

The US is also sitting on tons of oil reserves but doesn't tap into it.

The US leads in producing Raw materials in many categories but then ships those out to be refined by china or other countries. They then produce the product with them and ship it back to us.

The last thing I will leave you to ponder. And I will start by saying if its so bad here then please move to china. What do you think happens to the world when the US collapses and doesn't buy their products? I'm betting we will be far better off for production of goods then many of the other countries at that point. The world is linked and like it or not we start that chain.

I forgot my favorite thing the us makes

www.websiteoutlook.com...

We make this website

I think we also give the most percentage of traffic to the website.

Corn. We make corn. And lots of it. Corn is pretty much in everything you eat and drink. High fructose corn syrup, anyone? Yes, even your sugar and sweeteners are made out of corn. Corn is the biggest agriculture industry in the world, and it's right here in our backyard.

Originally posted by whoshotJR


The last thing I will leave you to ponder. And I will start by saying if its so bad here then please move to china. What do you think happens to the world when the US collapses and doesn't buy their products? I'm betting we will be far better off for production of goods then many of the other countries at that point. The world is linked and like it or not we start that chain.

Time magazine? Wow!

Nobody's bashing America in here. Thats more the can be said for Time! Dang! Is that where your getting your advanced understanding of world economics and manufacturing?

I hear what your saying though. Just shut up and be good consumers and troubled not your little worried mind. What do we know about it just shut up and buy buy buy at Walmart.

Originally posted by marg6043
reply to post by yellowcard

 

Sure you are, too bad mine is old and dusty after all Is been 28 years already.

Good luck and I suggest you review the quality of education you are getting for your money.

I'll challenge you to an economics debate anytime, I don't see how me saying that America is still the largest manufacturing base in the world quantifies me not understanding economics, especially since it's 100% true. If you honestly believe that does mean my intelligence should be called into question, then I would certainly call into question your logic and judgment. It's rather juvenile, really.

[edit on 22-2-2009 by yellowcard]

reply to post by trueforger


True that about tools. A hammer bought in the dollar store lasts maybe two blows before it breaks.
Damn, give me a good cast iron block with steel heads any day.



[edit on 22-2-2009 by desert]

reply to post by Logarock


I guess its easy to bash my link to the content then the actual content. I can link the same information from many places. what about my other link? You have a problem with that source that shows we are one of the biggest manufactures of food in the world?

I think your supposed to deny ignorance and post constructive debates about topics and information. Instead you seem to have chosen to act like a teenage and just flame the post without bringing any real counter argument.

Your summary of my post was far from my point I was trying to make. My point is many are incorrect in their assumption in here as we still produce and export lots of products. People fear that in the future we will be surpassed but everything is a balancing act. If we don't have the money to buy other products because nobody is buying ours then they wont have the needs or funds to produce products for us to buy.

Originally posted by Logarock

Originally posted by yellowcard
The United States is still the largest manufacturer of goods on the face of the earth...I don't know where someone got the idea that we don't make anything anymore.

That may be true but the average consumer/worker in the US buys most of his consumables from China these days. I can just look around the room I am in right now and see about 2/3 of the manufactured products are made outside the US.

The question is, are those products relevant? A Jet engine made in America vs a toy made in China? Which requires more information and education to make? Which one can be easily shipped overseas to an economy that lacks education on a broad spectrum? America needs to start living within their means, and stop buying useless things...but the truth of the matter is that we do gain from globalization, and protectionism is damaging to any economy. I would love to see the U.S. steel industry succeed, and it will succeed. The fact that our national debt is staggeringly high worries me, about the dollar's future, and our economic outlook. I do believe that the U.S. will remain the top economy in the world for decades to become, but at what point does it become irrelevant? I don't know.

I do know that we need to invest less in bullets and more in brains...spend less and save more. The market will correct itself, as it is now...the Keynesian policies of any administration can not trump the market forces, and if anything is just pushing on a string. Market corrections are good, the fact that we are going through a recession/depression is a natural market force of stabilizing spending, and anyone getting in it's way will just prolong it. I do not subscribe to Austrian economics, but rather Chicago School economics, but I certainly do not support government intervention of markets that will infringe on the freedoms Americans and socialize losses through taxation of future generations (without representation, in our current crisis.)

[edit on 22-2-2009 by yellowcard]

Originally posted by ProfessorRusso
Corn. We make corn. And lots of it. Corn is pretty much in everything you eat and drink. High fructose corn syrup, anyone? Yes, even your sugar and sweeteners are made out of corn. Corn is the biggest agriculture industry in the world, and it's right here in our backyard.

Well Farmers make corn. Corn is interesting becouse for the size of the industry in total dollar value it employs the fewest people and generally represents a very large subsidy monster fat pig like creature.

If they make to much they dump it on the ground and let it rot. (goggle it). The corn fuel deal is being pushed becouse it is subsidized into this monstrosity of a pork eating hog monster.

I suppose it could be used as a weapon if say china had an agricultural meltdown.

reply to post by yellowcard

Great post. I was simply focusing on the relevance to Joe US consumer in his everyday use of consumables. As far as the things I mentioned in the room the very large part of these items are really not simply minor extravagances.

We are talking hammers, electronics, the clock on the wall, the trophies in the case, clothing, coffee maker, ect. Nothing that I could make readily.

I presume a lot of guns are still made in the USA. Now that's blessed.

reply to post by rizla


Yes it is. But that is one area of foreign trade that just provides a wealth of fine products.

CRS: China-U.S. Trade Issues, December 10, 2008
Heres a pdf file from wikileaks dealing with China US tradeing its has some good info.Just click on the link on the page to view.

U.S.-China economic ties have expanded substantially over the past several years. Total U.S.- China trade, which totaled only $5 billion in 1980, rose to $387 billion in 2007; China overtook Japan to become the third largest U.S. export market, and passed Canada to become the largest source of U.S. imports. With a huge population and a rapidly expanding economy, China is a potentially huge market for U.S. exporters. However, bilateral economic relations have become strained over a number of issues, including large and growing U.S. trade deficits with China ($256 billion in 2007 and projected to hit $267 billion in 2008), China’s failure to fully implement its World Trade Organization (WTO) commitments (especially in regards to protection of intellectual property
rights), its refusal to adopt a floating currency system, its use of industrial policies and other practices deemed unfair and/or harmful to various U.S. economic sectors, and failure to ensure that its exports to the United States meet U.S. health and safety standards.
The Bush Administration has come under increasing pressure from Congress to take a more aggressive stance against various Chinese economic and trade practices. In response, it filed a number of trade dispute resolution cases against China in the WTO, including China’s failure to protect IPR and afford market access for IPR-related products, discriminatory regulations on imported auto parts, and import and export subsidies to various industries in China. In addition, the Administration reversed a long-standing policy that countervailing cases (dealing with
government subsidies) could not be brought against non-market economies, and has initiated several countervailing cases against China. In response to growing concerns over the health, safety, and quality of certain Chinese products, the United States has attempted to boost
cooperation with Chinese health and safety agencies to improve China’s regulatory and enforcement regime.
Further complicating the economic relationship is China’s large holdings of U.S. debt, such as Treasury securities. In September 2008, China surpassed Japan to become the largest foreign holder of such securities. On the one hand, some analysts welcome China’s purchases of U.S.
debt securities (needed to help fund U.S. budget deficits), while others have expressed concerns that growing Chinese holdings of U.S. debt may increase China’s leverage over the United States. In December 2006, the Bush Administration began a “Strategic Economic Dialogue” (SED) with
China to discuss major long-term economic issues between the two countries; the latest SED talks were held on December 4-5, 2008. The two sides have discussed a number of issues, including China’s currency policy, the global financial crisis, environment and energy issues, and financial market reforms, and have announced several areas of joint cooperation. While some analysts consider the SED a useful dialogue, others have complained that it has yielded few concrete results on major trade disputes.
This report examines major U.S.-China trade issues and will be updated as events warrant.

And tanks and missiles and bombs and mines etc. Or has that been off-shored too?

I think America still makes Velcro* , Tampons and diapers . .

America also makes great cheeseburgers.