Talkin' Shit About A Pretty Sunset

If you believe most of the news, or the grumblings of many Americans, you'd think that the US was a country that "doesn't make anything anymore". Complete bullshit.

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.

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 are energy products such as gas turbines for power plants made by General Electric, computer chips from Intel and fighter jets from Lockheed Martin. Household names such as GE, General Motors, IBM, Boeing and Hewlett-Packard are among the largest manufacturers by revenue.

James, from The Chief Brief said it best:

"There is no future in the US for manufacturing cheap goods, it is in high-tech, higher margin items. Sorry, if you want to spend the rest of your life making cheap sneakers, you will have to move to China."

The gloomy idea that the US doesn't manufacture anything anymore, I think, may originate in Detroit; they see themselves as the epicenter of US manufacturing. Sorry, guys, it's 2009 and until you can produce a truck that's marginally more fuel efficient than Ford's Model T, you're doomed to go bankrupt or be on the government dole for the foreseeable future.