Yeah, we sure don't make cars like we used to....and thank God!
Then he'd launch into a tirade about using a salt bag to keep the windshield from fogging up, or packing a full set of tires along for every trip to make sure they reached their destination.
FiveThirtyEight does a similar number on the tired old saw that the US doesn't make things anymore:
Unfortunately, the US still makes plenty of goods. In addition, free trade is not the boogie-man job killer many purport it to be...People notice the empty factories, but think their being empty means we're making less than we should. If you believe this guy's argument, we're making more stuff today - we're just doing it using less people than ever before.
There is a common theme across the internet: US manufacturing is dead and it's never coming back. Well, there's a big problem with that analysis: it's not true.
In fact, as the chart above indicates, it's actually false. Note that since 1960, the index of industrial production has risen from a little below 30 to its current level of about 100. And note the increase is continual -- meaning the number didn't just hover around 30 for most of that time only to spike up in one big move. The index has continually risen over that entire period.
...
Instead, what people are commenting on is the drop in manufacturing employment. Consider these two charts.
Durable Goods Employment remained fairly steady at 10 million to 11.5 million employees between the mid-1960s to the early 2000s. Then total employment dropped like a stone, losing three million people over the last 10 years. These are levels last seen in 1950.
Non-durable goods manufacturing is even worse. From the mid-1960s to the early 200s, total employment in this area hovered around a 6.8 million. However, starting in 2000, the number fell off a cliff, losing almost 2 million people. This is the lowest the number has been in over 60 years.
Depressing, but interesting.
2 comments:
http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/search/++industrial+production/1
Go there and look at more charts. It isn't as pleasant as 538 makes it seem, nor is it as bad as others believe. Durable consumer goods particularly flattened in 2000. That flattening happened during a decade when money was free and includes home furnishing type stuff and cars.
Very very poor leadership resulting in very very poor policies from weak corrupted individuals. IIWP (If I were President), the week after 9/11/01 would have been the time to shun the rest of the global leaches and start seriously working on this country's economic problems...instead all we got was more tyranny and less Middle Class!
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