Does the United States make anything anymore?

[superconnected]

Source: Komo4news.com

WASHINGTON (AP) - It may seem like the country that used to make everything is on the brink of making nothing.

In January, 207,000 U.S. manufacturing jobs vanished in the largest one-month drop since October 1982. Factory activity is hovering at a 28-year low. Even before the recession, plants were hemorrhaging work to foreign competitors with cheap labor. And some companies were moving production overseas.

But manufacturing in the United States isn't dead or even dying. It's moving upscale, following the biggest profits, and becoming more efficient, just like Henry Ford did when he created the assembly line to make the Model T.

The U.S. by far remains the world's leading manufacturer by value of goods produced. It hit a record $1.6 trillion in 2007 - nearly double the $811 billion in 1987. For every $1 of value produced in China's factories, America generates $2.50.

Read more: http://www.komonews.com/news/business/39669357.html

---

I don't know if it's true or the article is just blowing sunshine at us.

[Orrex]

1. We make plastic swimming pools, plastic pool toys, and plastic outdoor furniture

We also make a lot of guns and probably some other stuff.


But that's about it, I think.

[AndyTiedye]

2. Weapons

[mmonk]

65. Yep. We're number one in weapons.

[Skittles]

3. it still makes plenty of repuke assholes

[Muttocracy]

4. hmmm, they're counting cars and defense

"The U.S. sold more than $200 billion worth of aircraft, missiles and space-related equipment in 2007. And $80 billion worth of autos and auto parts. Deere & Co., best known for its bright green and yellow tractors, sold $16.5 billion worth of farming equipment last year, much of it to the rest of the world. Then there's energy products like gas turbines for power plants made by General Electric, computer chips from Intel and fighter jets from Lockheed Martin. Household names like GE, General Motors, IBM, Boeing, Hewlett-Packard are among the largest manufacturers by revenue."

[daggahead]

55. Hewlett-Packard ...

Do they really "make" anything in the US?

[Greyhound]

78. No, I worked for them until our whole department was outsourced

and I can tell you with confidence that HP does not make any consumer products in the US. In fact, 100% of their computers are manufactured by out-source "partners", even to the assembly and repair facilities.

The only thing HP has in the US are executives, lawyers, their support staff, and for the time being, a tiny fraction of what is called executive customer support (not the people you get @ 800-HPinvent).

[Tesha]

80. HPQ still designs some software in Marlboro, Massachusetts. (NT)

[Greyhound]

98. I'm convinced that the whole out-sourcing debacle is the prime reason the software gets worse

every year, M$ being the second.

[Tesha]

101. Mounting my soapbox...

> I'm convinced that the whole out-sourcing debacle is the prime reason the
> software gets worse every year, M$ being the second.

Outsourcing clearly has something to do with it, but I'd say that's
more a failure of management than, say, the skills of your average
Indian engineer. I've met quite a few engineers both in India and
over here (I suppose on H1-B visas) and they clearly span the same
range of competences as our home-grown engineers, ranging from
awful to very, very, very good.

On the other hand, programs that outsource a lot of the work tend
to end up with chaos owing to the poor communication that twelve
hours time shift, twelve thousand miles, and a not-quite-common
language produces. You can only sustain the pace of routine early-
morning or late-evening teleconferences for so long...

Meanwhile, Microsoft actually *IS* a big part of the reason why software
sucks, but not for the reasons one might think. Microsoft, by being
wildly successful selling what is often unadulterated crap, has "taught"
people that software, by its very nature sucks. As a result, people have
come to accept and even expect that software is bloated, unresponsive,
has dead lousy human engineering, and crashes all the time taking your
data with it. So more and more software engineers and even more of their
managers now "live down" to the ever-decreasing expectations of
Microsoft customers. Why invest good money doing it right if the rubes
will buy it even if it's crap?

There are still places in the world where software is actually expected
to work, but they are becoming fewer and farther between. Military
systems still seem to expect their software to work, more-or-less,
but commercial software is rapidly becoming a disaster area.

Software is also suffering from its complexity. It used to be that a
reasonably bright person could actually understand a complete software
system but nowadays, even a single component like a web browser is
so complicated, with so many different modules contributed from so
many different places with so many different programming styles with
so many different standards for coding quality and testing quality and
the like that *NO ONE* can understand this shit any more. The best you
can hope for is to gain a little experience in one small aspect of the
program and hope like hell that the architects actually partitioned it
well-enough that you can affect your area without tumbling down the
whole house of cards. But usually, the architects weren't that talented.

If Skynet actually becomes self-aware, it's far more likely to destroy
the world because of a bug in its program than because it thinks it
ought to.

Tesha

[Greyhound]

106. Absolutely correct.

If people could really understand just how fucking miraculous that box they're sitting in front of is, they might well...

no, they wouldn't, never mind. Cheap is king and quality no longer matters, as long as it does something and comes in a brightly colored box they will buy it.

Still, your reply is right on.:thumbsup:

[Tesha]

108. Thanks! (NT)

[IDemo]

88. I worked there until recently as well

They still have large R&D labs for printers here, as well as marketing and finance. But the R&D has begun slipping away to the East as well.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

99. Customer support is pretty amusing.

The lady tells me her name is "Susan"....yeah, suuuure. It's probably Laxmi or Sita.

Then when I get through with the call, I always say "Namaste". Freaks 'em out.

:D

[Tesha]

100. You forgot "Deepa" and "Sangeetha". ;-)

[Muttocracy]

105. my officemate a few years ago had a very long call with "Bob" at Dell

and finally he said, your name isn't really Bob, is it... and you're in India aren't you... They ended up having a nice chat about what Bangalore was like while they were both on hold waiting for more information :)

[Jackpine Radical]

5. Babies.

[HughBeaumont]

6. We make lots of people destitute.

We make lots of wages stagnate for decades.

We make handfuls of wealthy people wealthier.

We make lots of unnecessary war with sovereign nations that never attacked us.

But yeah, lift up over 90% of the non-edible products in your store and I guarandamntee they aren't made here.

[ProudDad]

7. Lot'sa f*cking guns (n/t)

[Ellipsis]

8. Carmex.

http://www.mycarmex.com/about-us/family-history/default.aspx

[Karenina]

45. That's the only stuff

my house guests MUST bring me from the States...

[BlooInBloo]

9. We surely lead the world in idiot production.

[marmar]

26. Not to mention snarky a**hole production.....

n/t

[OhioChick]

28. Agreed. n/t

[ChromeFoundry]

31. ... and their spokesperson has spoken! n/t

[El Supremo]

10. Porn n/m

[stillcool]

11. Prisons do a lot of manufacturing..

Here's a link to California Prison Industries
http://www.pia.ca.gov/
Then there's UNICOR the trade name for Federal Prison Industries

http://www.corpwatch.org/article.php?id=853

[Pavulon]

12. pretty silly responses

we make ships, diesel motors, nuclear reactors, generators, advanced machining systems that can not be exported. We make all types of equipment, steel, glass, tools. Basically anything you want done right needs to be done here, the EU, or in japan.

We make lots of stuff here.

Need a motor to actuate a part in a nuclear reactor, not going to be made buy a 12 year old in china.

[kath]

109. Stuff like that, okay. But virtually NO consumer goods anymore.

[pampango]

112. Not so sure about that.

"Thirty years ago, U.S. producers made 80 percent of what the country consumed... Now it's around 65 percent." (from the OP article)

I checked and virtually everything in my house, except for the electronics, was made in the US, including furniture, towels, toiletries, dishwasher, washer and dryer. I don't know how typical that is.

[kath]

115. Well, on a lot of things, they're very sneaky. The label will say "Distributed by XYZ Corp,,

Chicago, IL" (or whatever) -- that DOES NOT mean that it was manufactured in the U.S. Or it might say "Hershey's Candy, Hershey PA" but it came from a factory in Mexico. Some of our toiletries say "Specially made for Bath and Body Works 97 West Main Street, New Albany OH" -- does that mean it was manufactured in Ohio??? Somehow I doubt it.
Unless the label actually says "Made in U.S.A", you don't know WHERE the hell it was manufactured, in many cases. The "distributed by ___" labels are a real red flag for me.

And I'd be willing to bet that virtually none of your clothing was made here...

[tuckessee]

13. Prisoners. n/t

[pitchforksandtorches]

14. Burgers and shakes

[spin]

15. It looks like we will be printing a lot of money soon. (n/t)

[Stinky The Clown]

16. Trouble ..... we make trouble

[yy4me]

82. When I read the headline, you r answer was what came to mind,

[treestar]

85. Exactly. To create a market for the weapons that we make

We have this belief that WWII got us out of the depression and therefore have a belief that war is necessary to our economic success. That's why we work so hard to create them.

[Angleae]

17. Beer and Porn.

What more do you need? :crazy:

[happyslug]

34. The Ukraine has taken over the Porn Business

It is the cheapest place for natural blonds and has been since the breakup of the Soviet Union.

[Angleae]

47. Say it isn't so.

:cry::cry::cry:

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

79. Not for the good stuff, though

[a la izquierda]

18. New Balance sneakers.

[doc03]

27. Most are made in China now

[a la izquierda]

32. I just bought a pair...

and they said Made in the USA. Brand spankin' new.

[ogneopasno]

56. New Balance has said it will make a few in the U.S. as long as it can. You have to check the label,

because the majority are made in China.

[Wickerman]

19. Prisons

lots and lots of prisons

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

20. Software

[Igel]

21. A while back my family and I went to a sort of park E of Houston.

Went through an industrial area to get there. Lots of small and a few large plants.

On the way back I observed traffic. It was a afternoon Saturday and traffic was fairly heavy. There were an awful lot of flatbed semis hauling stuff covered by tarps and in crates, and they almost all left I-610 at the Port of Houston exit.

[TBF]

84. Yeah, we have alot of refineries down here & make plastics. n/t

[OhioChick]

22. Hanes socks...unless they're made elsewhere since I last checked. n/t

[blue_onyx]

75. I have an unopened pack of Hanes socks

I got at Christmas and it says "Made in USA" so they are still made here....for now.

[Historic NY]

23. check the following....

http://www.stillmadeinusa.com/

[lukasahero]

64. Spiffy link!

Thanks for that.

[closeupready]

24. Fiestaware (W.Va.)

And I think, also, Cuisinart appliances.

[mulsh]

25. hats, high quality guitars and other stringed instruments.

high end electronic components, all made in the usa these days.

[IDemo]

92. Seconded

http://www.bolinguitars.com/about.html

[psychopomp]

29. Guns. Lots of guns

[doc03]

30. 100,000,000 tons of steel

[Psephos]

33. Few realize that US industrial output alone is greater than China's entire economy

US industrial output: $2.7 trillion

China's entire GDP: $2.5 trillion

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_sector_composition

US industry is huge, but what we don't make much of is Big Box consumer merchandise. That's why popular perceptions are skewed.

[Left Coast2020]

35. If you're talking about appliances, and tools, that would be correct.

But I just returned from China last month. I was there 3 months and saw a Buick plant...BIG plant. New cars parked across street just waiting for freight truck to carry them out.

And we sell our used materials too. This really pisses me off. This is recycled material we need for our production purposes. They sell it right back to us, but at inflated price. Are we stupid or what?

And waht about the local "machine shop?" Where did those go?

[HamdenRice]

59. Our biggest manufacturing advantage: We make machines that make the machines--machine tools

As you point out, we don't make as much consumer junk as we used to so our perceptions as consumers are skewed. But the US, western Europe, Japan and other high wage/high skill/high tech industrial sectors still produce the machines that make the machines, and the tools that make the tools. This sector is loosely called the "machine tools industry."

Those robots that are making the cars, the sewing machines that make the clothing, the assembly lines that make the television monitors, the plastic extruders that extrude the plastic into junk toys, and the machines that make the extruders -- all this behind the scenes manufacturing is still largely made in high wage/high skill/high technology countries.

That means that every time a piece of plastic junk or cheap clothing from China is sold here, some small part of the profit earned by the Chinese company actually is remitted back to some machine tool company in the US, Germany or Japan.

[Alcibiades]

68. We might be losing our edge there, too

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90776/90884/6398557.html

Apparently, we also run a trade deficit in this area:

http://www.gardnerweb.com/consump/2007/trade.html

The ten countries that maintain a surplus in this area are all European, with the exception of #1, Japan, and #5, Taiwan.

On the other, hand, the only country with a larger machine tool deficit is China, though this deficit may be more a sign of China's growth and strength in the future than the poor state of its current industry.

Anyway, the trend of fewer workers making more products with more sophisticated machines does bode well for the US machine tool industry.

[barb162]

36. cereal, cardboard, etc

[trthnd4jstc]

37. We make more than 150 Household products: From Brooms to Mops, and Lots and Lots of Chemicals.

[DollyM]

38. dolls

well, my dolls anyway. I buy my materials from a factory in Michigan so that is another American company. My website is www.tinastots-dolls.com Their website is www.applevalleydollworks.com They manufacture the vinyl pieces at their factory in Michigan. The only thing that bothers me is that they import the cloth body sacks (the cloth part of the doll) from China and every single time I use them they rip and I have to go back and reinforce them with additional thread. I think very unkind thoughts of some factory workers in China every time I have to sew up a tear because they miss a seam or don't bother to reinforce the stress points on the body. I asked AVDW once why they didn't make the cloth parts in America too and they said they couldn't get them cheap enough if they did that. It seems we get what we pay for then . . .

[Hannah Bell]

39. we make more steel than in the 60s, but with 90% fewer workers.

us steel is internationally competitive, too.

[Supply Side Jesus]

40. Private Prisons

The most insidious of American Institutions.

[Mr. Hyde]

41. Hey, nobody makes a better movie than America.

and, supposedly, we produce some pretty good music too.

[DollyM]

42. cut backs there too I understand . . .

Because there has been a considerably drop in people going to see movies and even movie rentals I understand the film industry will also be cutting back and not making as many movies. Film industry is listed as one of the fields you don't want to be working in right now in this recession. My nephew does contract work for films and has does small, independent films himself. I wonder if he is going to be asking "do you want fries with that?" soon . . .

[ContinentalOp]

86. january set an all time record

for both box office gross and attendance. Home video is in trouble though due to the Internet and on demand services

[miyazaki]

43. zippo's n/t

[Hardrada]

44. Soap operas, condoms, whiskey, cat litter deodorizer

[wickerwoman]

46. Flags and chemical flavorings

in the delightful corner of New Jersey where I used to live.
:evilgrin:

[Hugin]

48. Right-wing Drug Addled Pedophile Blowhards.

We've got way too many.

[jmowreader]

116. That would be one, correct?

[No Elephants]

49. Music, movies, TV shows. (This is no joke.)

[FatDave]

67. Yup. We make the worlds entertainment.

For the most part.

[underpants]

50. Gum (Wrigley's) and weed

[hack89]

51. Here is a good resource on US manufacturing. nt

http://nam.org/AboutUs/TheManufacturingInstitute/CenterforManufacturingResearchandInnovation/TheFactsAboutModernManufacturing.aspx

[Scout]

52. we typeset, print and manufacture books n/t

[melm00se]

53. we make quite

a bit:

* Aerospace product and parts manufacturing
* Chemical manufacturing, except pharmaceutical and medicine manufacturing
* Computer and electronic product manufacturing
* Food manufacturing
* Machinery manufacturing
* Motor vehicle and parts manufacturing
* Pharmaceutical and medicine manufacturing
* Printing
* Steel manufacturing
* Textile, textile product, and apparel manufacturing

and we export almost $1.5 trillion in goods.

much of this is invisible at the individual, retail consumer as many of those products aren't made in the USA but overseas.

[FatDave]

71. Computer and electronic product manufacturing

Do we really? I mean, I can assemble a computer in 45 minutes, but all the parts were made in Taiwan. I know Western Digital's HQ is in the US, but I don't know where their plants are.

[B3Nut]

113. The best guitar amps, pro-audio amplifiers, and speakers

are still the American-made units. Fender, Peavey, Crown, QSC, JBL, Eminence, Electro-Voice, etc. have US plants where the top-shelf stuff is made. The lower-end stuff is foreign-made, however. Despite now being Japanese-owned, Leslie organ speakers are still made outside of Chicago by Hammond-Suzuki.

Don't forget the great American guitar makers like Martin and Taylor and Santa Cruz and PRS (yes, PRS does have a budget line of Korean-made guitars, but the best ones are made in the US.) We make great pipe and digital organs in America, too.

We don't manufacture nearly enough in this country, for sure. But we're not totally down for the count either.

Todd in Cheesecurdistan

[Tsiyu]

114. Gibsons in Nashville methinks still

Local folks make bread, art, wine, wood products, athletic wear, Lodge cast iron goods, jewelry, fired pottery cups, bowls and dishware, and process fishing worms.

And there are many more small producers of things I've forgotten...

[ryanmuegge]

117. A lot of good after-market pickups are made here too

Duncan, Dimarzio, Fralin, and a bunch of others.

A lot of boutique brands (Dr. Z, Carvin) also make their stuff in America.

[daggahead]

54. We make:

- low-paying jobs
- hamburgers
- Indian consulting companies very rich
- a lot of MBAs
- thieves in the board room
- greedy people
- businesses out of just about any hobby people try to still enjoy (scrap booking? are you kidding me?)
- shitty Disney movies
- bad music (and some good music, but it isn't "commercially viable")
- beer ... but only microbrews
- bourbon
- bombs, with parts made in China
- crappy roads
- a lot of poisons

I'm sure I missed a lot ...

[opihimoimoi]

57. Off to the GP ya go...We still make more twoubles than anyone else

[The Backlash Cometh]

58. Longerberger Baskets.

But we pretty much have lost the art of friendship with all these hosted marketing parties, like party lites, tupperware, Mary Kay, Creative Photos, etc.

[TwilightGardener]

91. Gack--those stupid baskets. That was like Beanie Babies for suburban women.

Silly fad.

[The Backlash Cometh]

93. About the only good thing that has come from withdrawing from society,

is that I don't have to attend another of these stupid parties.

[TwilightGardener]

94. Yes, I used to get occasional invites to coworkers' parties like that --at first I was all

Sally Field ("They like me! They really like me!"). Then I realized they weren't "parties", just a gathering of suckers who felt socially guilted by the hostess into buying stupid candles or cookware or whatnot. Hard to just eat hors d'oeuvres, enjoy the company, and not buy anything, I imagine--AWKWARD!

[harun]

60. Debt, porno and weapons. The founding fathers would be so proud.

[tom_paine]

61. You beat me to the punch, harun. And said it better than I would have.

:toast:

Yes, I'll bet you could run a small town's electrcity off the dynamo-powers of the Founders spinning in their graves.

Let's hope Obama is the man we need him to be, and that it is still even possible to turn things around.

[Romulox]

62. The article is nothing more than balm for the Walmart shopper's conscience...

But hey! At least our neo-liberals are in charge!

[pampango]

72. The article will be a balm to some and an irritant to others, but is it accurate?

The article does not take a look at the imbalance of imports and exports nor at whether our manufacturing sector should be weighted towards high-end products (just that it is), just at the meme that we don't manufacture anything anymore.

Authors usually have an ulterior motive. "Things are better than you think. Things are worse than you think. We should adopt this liberal policy or that conservative policy." They should present facts to support their view, not just opinions. We can then disagree with their "facts" (if we don't believe they are accurate) or present our own facts that counter their argument.

[Romulox]

95. "I Don't Know" is on THIRD BASE! nt

[lame54]

63. enemies

[BumRushDaShow]

66. We make trash

and lots of it, as Idiocracy so elegantly lampooned.

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

69. I bought some excellent cheddar cheese in Milwaukee.

Other that that... hm, let me see... computer? No. Souvenirs? No. Backpack? No. Clothing? No. Toys? No.

Yeah... food. Only food.

[many a good man]

70. Answer: more than most

[AyanEva]

73. I checked my bathroom last night out of curiousity

And was surprised to find that most of the shampoos and lotions that we have are made in the US.

[Ezlivin]

74. High quality marijuana

We grow more marijuana than corn.

If only we regulated and taxed this crop....

[Dukkha]

76. #1 manufacturer of debt, trash, and children's tears

[Greyhound]

77. Well we can say with certainty that the model T was not "upscale", just

the opposite. It was the car that ordinary people could afford.

[starroute]

81. If this is true, it means American workers are being exploited

The problem might be not that jobs are being shipped overseas -- but that workers here are being squeezed.

The people who do have jobs are being pushed to work longer and longer hours and not use their vacation time so that companies can keep their workforce lean. There are specific reasons for this -- by far the largest being health insurance. Every additional employee means an added allocation for insurance, where pushing the same person to work harder doesn't.

The corporations and banks are also extracting huge amounts of profit from the economy -- and wages have been stagnant for decades to provide that.

The fact that imports are highly visible to people in their role as day-to-day consumers, while the kinds of major items the article cites are not, helps convince people that things are really bad and they should just shut up and accept whatever crumbs they can get.

I'd be interested to know to what extent the current massive layoffs are a natural result of the slowdown and to what extent they're just corporations taking advantage of public fear to squeeze the workforce even more. Certainly the crushing attempts to bargain unions out of decades of hard-won gains suggest a very deliberate policy on the part of employers.

Even in the current turmoil, America is an extremely wealthy society -- but the wealth is not trickling down. Perhaps our problem is not the jobs that are being sent overseas, but the profits that are being shipped to offshore banking havens.

I kind of suspect we're getting to the "workers of the world unite" stage of things. As Bucky Fuller always said, the planet should be able to produce enough for everybody to be decently fed, clothed, housed, and given basic education and medical care. When it doesn't, that's a matter of faulty distribution -- and the distribution stays faulty only because someone is profiting from the imbalances.

[blindpig]

90. Oh, you mean Capitalism.

No need to beat around the bush, 'faulty distribution' is way weak, institutionalized theft is more like it.

[treestar]

83. If you look at everything, you will notice that we make towels and

sheets and publish books. That includes British authors.

Another thing is look at your clothes. They are made in China or Vietnam or Indonesia or Nicaragua. But the label is an American company. So there are people whose jobs here remain because of the outsourcing to cheaper labor. These people could lose their jobs without it. A company has to make money or it closes (or needs bailouts from the government).

And their jobs are not hard factory jobs but more comfortable office jobs.

[kath]

110. which towels and sheets? The ones I see in stores are made overseas.

BTW, the jobs making sheets, towels and clothing used to pay pretty well. Especially when they were union jobs.

[snake in the grass]

87. Yes...

...narrow-minded cretins.

[derby378]

89. All-American Clothing

Great blue jeans made in the USA using all-union labor. Check it out!

Here's a link:

http://www.allamericanclothing.com/udenim.php

[guitar man]

96. CEOs

I saw a bumper sticker a while back that said: "the only thing we produce anymore is rich executives"

sad but true :(

[SoCalDem]

97. We manufacture dreams, re-package and sell debt..n/t

[steelmania75]

102. Asia makes everything now, espically China and Japan.

[old mark]

103. Commercials, but the quality of products is declining. nt

[K8-EEE]

104. Films, TV, music, and books

Although a fair amount of that has been outsourced thank goodness a lot of it is done right here in the US. Which is why the Republicans have declared "war on Hollywood" :eyes: WHAT? GOOD PAYING JOBS WITH DECENT HEALTHCARE? Oh let them at it....

[scarletwoman]

107. We make high fructose corn syrup, toxic chemicals, frankenfoods, & weapons.

We are a light unto the world.

[havocmom]

111. Worthless paper, perhaps:

fictitious quarterly reports and overvalued stock certificates

[asdjrocky]

118. Prisoners?