American Steel Mill 1912
Photo Source: Library of Congress

It wasn't so long ago when goods imported from Japan were considered junk in this country. Even their cars used ancient technology in the beginning and I don't think any of the U.S. automakers took them seriously. I remember going to an auto show, I don't know the exact year, but I remember I was young, a teenager. There was a car from Japan exhibited there. I looked under the hood and was astounded to find they were still using those old asbestos wires that we used to use in cars from the 1920s and 1930s. I laughed and closed the hood. Who could have known what was about to happen a few years later, in that industry. The stuff from there was really cheap junk. We used to have a chain of stores named Woolworth. They were, what was known as 5 and 10.cent stores. They were sort of your original dollar store, except that most things were under that price. You could buy things in there for as little as 5 cents. I remember my mother picked up a hammer there, I think it might have been 59 cents. We got home and used it once before it shattered. It was cast iron, which just doesn't hold up to hammering. You could also buy hardware from there that would snap, like nails and screws and also really cheap toys like a Chinese finger trap. That could be purchased for a couple of cents. It is a woven device shaped like a tube with both ends open. You put a finger from each hand into an end while pushing it together, next you try and pull your fingers out. The device would tighten on your fingers and you couldn't pull them out, you would have to push it back to retrieve those sore digits.

Well those days of laughter are over with. Not only is Japan producing quality products, but countries like China and Malaysia have jumped onto the bandwagon. Korean electronics are everywhere and the big names in American electronics are all but gone, unless they have been purchased by foreign companies like the RCA brand, Radio Corporation of America. Thompson SA now owns RCA's trademark for appliances and Sony BMG owns the RCA Victor and RCA Records label. So RCA is now owed by two foreign companies, Ouch! Sylvania, a long respected American electronics company is now owned by Funai. It seems that the names and trademarks of former American companies are hot items as far as most of the Asian companies are concerned, of course this trend is not only limited to them.

American Cotton Mill 1903
Photo Source: Library of Congress

Here is a question for you, which car company is more American, one that is American and imports many of its parts and builds some of its cars for sale in foreign countries like Mexico, or a Japanese car company that builds factories here and builds all their cars with U.S. labor? Sometimes I just have to wonder. I remember always hearing that we should all buy American. It is a great sentiment, but the people you are supposed to be buying American from are not always selling you an American product. I was in a gas station one day, waiting for an oil change, when a guy pulled in with a Dodge Omni, yea it was years ago. There was something wong with his fuel injection. The mechanic said that he would have to order the parts special because the injectors were German made. The customer said the only reason he bought this car was because he wanted to buy American. The mechanic laughed and then told him the transmission was made in Japan and many other parts of the car were imported. It seems that some of the foreign cars are more American than the American ones. I also remember an article years ago, where a GM executive told a Toyota executive that he thought that they were crazy for painting parts of their cars that no one would ever see. Look who is laughing now.

Some foreign companies are owned partially or wholly, by U.S. automobile companies. For example Ford owns Volvo cars, Jaguar, Land Rover, and 33% of Mazda. GM owns 44% of Daewoo, 10% of Fiat, Opel, Saab, 2.5% of Suzuki and Vauxhall. I didn't mention the fact that GM owns some plants in partnership with Toyota. It seems that automobile divisions just keep changing hands. In 2005 GM sold 20% interest in Fuji Heavy Industries - Subaru to Toyota. While not a U.S. company, you just can't help but admire the Volkswagen lineup, they own Audi, Bentley, Bugatti,and Lamborghini among others. Talk about speed technology, wow. I saw where the fastest production car in the world is the Bugatti, it hits speeds of 252 mph. The engine puts out 1001 hp. To read more about this incredible car you can go to their LINK.

What is really manufactured in the U.S. anymore? We are not exactly a hub of manufactured objects today. Well at least we know our drugs are manufactured here, or are they?  Daniel Hines, publisher of http://www.TodaysSeniorsNetwork.com , says that the FDA has engaged in deceit by claiming that prescribed drugs ordered from legitimate pharmacies outside the U.S. are 'unsafe' if they come from different countries other than the country in which the order was placed. The fact is that the majority of the prescriptions used by Americans -- whether they are purchased at a local pharmacy or from a licensed pharmacy outside the U.S. -- are not manufactured in this country," Hines says. It almost seems that if it wasn't for autos and computers, nothing would be manufactured here and both those industries are declining. Supposedly the lead in computer production will be over taken by China down the road and we won't even be second, it will be India. Well I guess that is natural. Industry does seem to migrate to where the labor is cheapest. I have always said, until the standard of living is the same in the entire world, industry will seek out the cheapest place to manufacture and that will raise the standard of living in that place and the cycle will repeat.

It seems like we are our own worst enemy when it comes to manufacturing. Maybe we should think about helping our own car industry more. So do we really lead in anything? Well a report came out by the U.S. government that states we are leading the world in Nanotechnology Research, but it also states that other countries "are aggressively developing their own programs in this area. It has been predicted that by 2011 over 34% of all manufactured goods coming in the U.S. will come from China. This is up from 4% in 1981.

All is not gloom and doom however. There are certain industries that employ highly skilled workers and these U.S. industries are doing well. Other industries, except in the low wage sector, are moving to realign and become much more competitive by employing cutting edge technology and becoming more productive. There have been some forecasts made by economic experts that claim that over time, displaced employees will be retrained and employed by these more technical and better paying industries, because they will expand and become more successful. Lets hope that they are right, meanwhile we can enjoy the lower prices of imported goods.

Contrary to some held beliefs, U.S. steel is doing pretty good In 2006. U.S. Steel Corporation had revenues of 15.7 billion dollars. Other corporations that were scooping in profits were Alcoa Aluminum making a whopping 26.2 billion dollars, PPG Industries that sold 11 billion, H.J. Heinz Co, who's 57 varieties earned them 8.6 billion dollars, PNC Financial Services Group who took in 6.6 billion and Nova Chemicals who made 6.5 billion dollars. You can't feel sorry for any of these companies, Wesco electrical supplies took in 5.3 billion and they export electrical supplies. Even Dick's Sporting Goods took in 2.9 billion. There were also some small companies who saw huge increases in their revenues, such as Well Services who's revenues increased from 132 million in 2005 to 245 million in 2006, that is a 86% increase in revenue in one year. Ansys went from 158 million to 264 million and Atlas went from 475 million to 749 million in one year. These are just some examples of healthy U.S. companies and there are plenty more.