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A comment on The Decline of the U.S. Machine-Tool Industry and Prospects for Recovery (1994). Parent comment

Re:The Decline of the U.S. Machine-Tool Industry and Prospec... by chabska on Tuesday April 08, 2025 @09:46PM (#43628171)
> The US manufactures more than ever

More of what, exactly? I looked at steel production data (in metric tonnes, not dollar value), US production has been flat or slightly declining since 1970.

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Re:The Decline of the U.S. Machine-Tool Industry and Prospec... by Spooky23 on Tuesday April 08, 2025 @11:16PM (#43628580)
Computer components, medical equipment, vehicles, aircraft, chemicals, etc.

Steel is something where value matters. US steel is usually higher grade or recycled with more value. Korea churns out tons and tons of low value low margin rebar.

You bring back manufacturing by investing in clustered industries. New York has a bunch of semiconductors. There’s a ton of chemical industries around Philly and Houston.

The iPhone is made in China because they have the best manufacturing for precision products. If you want that here, you have to invest.

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Re:The Decline of the U.S. Machine-Tool Industry and Prospec... by klooney on Wednesday April 09, 2025 @12:39AM (#43628913)
https://www.econtalk.org/susan-houseman-on-manufacturing/#au...

People normally show a slowly increasing graph to claim that the US manufactures more than ever- but it's primarily because of hedonic adjustments for Intel chips. If you take that out it falls off a cliff in the 2000s during the China Shock.

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