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842 points putzdown | 1 comments | | HN request time: 0s | source
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NoTeslaThrow ◴[] No.43706451[source]
We never stopped manufacturing, we just stopped employing people.

> We don’t have the infrastructure to manufacture

That's trivially false given we're the second-largest manufacturer in the world. We just don't want to employ people, hence why we can't make an iphone or refine raw materials.

The actual issue is that our business culture is antithetical to a healthy society. The idea of employing Americans is anti-business—there's no willingness to invest, or to train, or to support an employee seen as waste. Until business can find some sort of reason to care about the state of the country, this will continue.

Of course, the government could weigh in, could incentivize, could subsidize, could propagandize, etc, to encourage us to actually build domestic industries. But that would be a titantic course reversal that would take decades of cultural change.

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1. adrian_b ◴[] No.43714873[source]
Most companies that do manufacturing in USA are oriented to making business-to-business products, where high margins can be achieved.

As an European, there have been many decades since the last time when I have seen any competitive "made in USA" product that is intended to be sold to individuals.

There are products that I buy, which have been designed in USA, e.g. computer CPUs, but none of them have also been made in USA.

When I was young, it was very different, there were many "made in USA" products that could compete with those made elsewhere.