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

Re:The Decline of the U.S. Machine-Tool Industry and Prospec... by Tiktaalik on Tuesday April 08, 2025 @11:36PM (#43628671)

The USA is already a lot more productive than everyone else. This is because the USA generates an enormous amount of wealth through very few people thanks to its technology and finance industry. Irony is that there's no end to handwringing editorials in Canada about our "productivity gap" between us and the USA and the USA under Trump is wanting to move itself backward and become less productive. Everyone else in the G7 wishes they were as productive as the USA.

The solution to the problem posed here is for the USA to use its incredible wealth deriving from its incredible productivity to buy the warships from Poland etc.

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Re:The Decline of the U.S. Machine-Tool Industry and Prospec... by klooney on Wednesday April 09, 2025 @12:42AM (#43628929)

> thanks to its technology and finance industry

There's been a great sucking sound from all the electrical and mechanical engineers switching to writing CRUD apps because the pay is double.

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Re:The Decline of the U.S. Machine-Tool Industry and Prospec... by WalterBright on Wednesday April 09, 2025 @01:02AM (#43629024)

I switched from mechanical engineering to writing software because of the instant gratification of software machines. If you're designing a gearbox, it takes years to see the actual hardware, and you'd better have gotten the design right the first try, as changing the box gets very expensive.

I would have been much happier as an engineer working next to the shop where I could partner with the machinists.

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