[Sixstrings]

#1 The United States has lost approximately 42,400 factories since 2001. About 75 percent of those factories employed over 500 people when they were still in operation.

#2 Dell Inc., one of America’s largest manufacturers of computers, has announced plans to dramatically expand its operations in China with an investment of over $100 billion over the next decade.

#3 Dell has announced that it will be closing its last large U.S. manufacturing facility in Winston-Salem, North Carolina in November. Approximately 900 jobs will be lost.

#4 In 2008, 1.2 billion cellphones were sold worldwide. So how many of them were manufactured inside the United States? Zero.

#5 According to a new study conducted by the Economic Policy Institute, if the U.S. trade deficit with China continues to increase at its current rate, the U.S. economy will lose over half a million jobs this year alone.

#6 As of the end of July, the U.S. trade deficit with China had risen 18 percent compared to the same time period a year ago.

#7 The United States has lost a total of about 5.5 million manufacturing jobs since October 2000.

#8 According to Tax Notes, between 1999 and 2008 employment at the foreign affiliates of U.S. parent companies increased an astounding 30 percent to 10.1 million. During that exact same time period, U.S. employment at American multinational corporations declined 8 percent to 21.1 million.

#9 In 1959, manufacturing represented 28 percent of U.S. economic output. In 2008, it represented 11.5 percent.

#10 Ford Motor Company recently announced the closure of a factory that produces the Ford Ranger in St. Paul, Minnesota. Approximately 750 good paying middle class jobs are going to be lost because making Ford Rangers in Minnesota does not fit in with Ford's new "global" manufacturing strategy.

#11 As of the end of 2009, less than 12 million Americans worked in manufacturing. The last time less than 12 million Americans were employed in manufacturing was in 1941.

#12 In the United States today, consumption accounts for 70 percent of GDP. Of this 70 percent, over half is spent on services.

#13 The United States has lost a whopping 32 percent of its manufacturing jobs since the year 2000.

#14 In 2001, the United States ranked fourth in the world in per capita broadband Internet use. Today it ranks 15th.

#15 Manufacturing employment in the U.S. computer industry is actually lower in 2010 than it was in 1975.

#16 Printed circuit boards are used in tens of thousands of different products. Asia now produces 84 percent of them worldwide.

#17 The United States spends approximately $3.90 on Chinese goods for every $1 that the Chinese spend on goods from the United States.

#18 One prominent economist is projecting that the Chinese economy will be three times larger than the U.S. economy by the year 2040.

#19 The U.S. Census Bureau says that 43.6 million Americans are now living in poverty and according to them that is the highest number of poor Americans in the 51 years that records have been kept.
http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/19-facts-about-the-deindustrialization-of-america-that-will-blow-your-mind

Ok, according to the article we've lost 42,400 factories since 2001, and 75% of those factories employed at least 500 people. To be conservative, let's just consider the 75% and also discount any factories that employed more than 500. So that comes out to 31,800 times 500 jobs which totals 15,900,000 factory jobs lost this decade! Good lord, no wonder unemployment is so high.

That's just one of 19 depressing facts, feel free to address any of them.

[dolanbaker]

You could run a similar story for the UK or Ireland, both have adopted the "American Model" as well. Dell for example followed the cheap labour route, leaving the US to Ireland (plus a large dose of "good Friday money") then upping sticks to Poland.

[Tanada]

Too many people living in desperate poverty willing to work for just enough to clothe feed and shelter their family and a global trade policy with no tariffs make this inevitable. As long as virtually free labor is coupled with low cost transport jobs will always flow to the cheap labor choice.

[Windmills]

Barring a dramatic rise in shipping costs, this trend has a great deal of life left in it. If the price of oil remained stable, bleeding out jobs to the rest of the world would go on for many decades, perhaps even longer. It would easily continue until the US manufacturing sector was extinct, along with any other jobs that could be sent overseas. I doubt that manufacturing is the only at-risk sector. Unless the employees for a particular job need to be physically here in the US, the job will be exported. If technology like robotics coupled with remote controls can do your job from Asia, don't expect that vocation to last much longer in this country. It almost makes you wish for peak oil.

[Keith_McClary]

#2 Dell Inc., one of America’s largest manufacturers of computers, has announced plans to dramatically expand its operations in China with an investment of over $100 billion over the next decade.

#3 Dell has announced that it will be closing its last large U.S. manufacturing facility in Winston-Salem, North Carolina in November. Approximately 900 jobs will be lost.

I "manufactured" my computer. This involved screwing Asian made components into a Chinese box and plugging in a few cables.

I think that's all Dell does. The advantage of doing it in the US is "just in time" - they avoid having inventories of rapidly depreciating computers.

I have a Dell monitor which I've read is a LG (Lucky Goldstar). I don't know where their laptops come from.

[Daniel_Plainview]

#18 One prominent economist is projecting that the Chinese economy will be three times larger than the U.S. economy by the year 2040.

We wish China the best of luck in finding the energy resources to accomplish that feat ....

[Outcast_Searcher]

#1 The United States has lost approximately 42,400 factories since 2001. About 75 percent of those factories employed over 500 people when they were still in operation.

You're not going to fix this anytime soon in America, regardless of WHO is put in charge, IMO.

For too long, the methods politicians advocate and the populous supports are some form of protectionism (which doesn't work and lowers everyone's standard of living if widely implemented), artificial wage and benefit increases via Washington BS or unions, or whining and hurling blame at everyone ELSE (which helps SO much).

We get the government we elect, which as a whole, is what we deserve, as collectively we are clearly IDIOTS.

Working hard and getting a good education and EARNING a good paycheck, investing in education and infrastructure for the LONG term, and taking risk are things that J6P, led by Washington, has been running headlong AWAY from since the 50's.

Good luck getting any fundamental change toward that. After all, it's much more fun to blame the successful hard working people and confiscate as much of their wealth as possible. And as a bonus, that has SUCH a great track record for success in this country.

Short the dollar and US prosperity in general -- unless and until this general state of things changes. Best long term investment strategy I can think of.

It makes me very sad to have to say that.

[diemos]

We wish China the best of luck in finding the energy resources to accomplish that feat ....

Quite easy actually.

Current energy consumption:
USA 100 Quads/year
China 100 Quads/year

Future energy consumption:
USA 50 Quads/year
China 150 Quads/year

[Daniel_Plainview]

We wish China the best of luck in finding the energy resources to accomplish that feat ....

Quite easy actually.

Current energy consumption:
USA 100 Quads/year
China 100 Quads/year

Future energy consumption:
USA 50 Quads/year
China 150 Quads/year

Cool! That was pretty easy!

[Keith_McClary]

I "manufactured" my computer. This involved screwing Asian made components into a Chinese box and plugging in a few cables.

A small locally-owned shop "manufactured" my computer also. And they fix and upgrade it regularly. Why go anywhere else?

I also "manufactured" my stereo system by placing Asian-made components on an Asian-made shelf unit and plugging in some Asian-made cables.

Edit: Come to think of it, it was an IKEA shelf unit, so I guess I "manufactured" that.

[Keith_McClary]

I also "manufactured" my stereo system by placing Asian-made components on an Asian-made shelf unit and plugging in some Asian-made cables.

I also made my own breakfast! So there!

If everyone manufactured their stuff like you and I do, we wouldn't have to worry about Deindustrialization.

[Tanada]

It will all be over soon. Then when China can't sell to us because we are so broke they might find that their own population is wiser than we are.

[Cloud9]

This is what we are up against. http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/09/16/1 ... river.html

Until our living standard matches theirs, we have more ground to lose.

[MarkJ]

Locally, GlobalFoundries/AMD is building a 4.6 Billion Dollar chip fab in Upstate New York's Saratoga County which is creating thousands of construction jobs, fab related jobs, spin-off jobs and a construction boom.

Much of the growth in manufacturing is in the high tech sector.

Leading semiconductor companies from around the globe are choosing to invest their futures here because New York is one of the largest and richest consumer and business markets in the world. As home to IBM’s most technologically advanced 300-mm fab, Sematech North and Tokyo Electron’s newest research and development facility, New York has assembled the assets necessary for nanotechnology to thrive. The following companies either have operations in New York or partner with our research institutions.

Warehousing and Distribution jobs effectively replaced much of our local manufacturing businesses as large employers of unskilled and low skilled manual laborers. Pay, benefits and working conditions are much better as well.


Back when the local factories, mills and tanneries were booming, the pay wasn't that great, benefits were poor, layoffs were common and working conditions were terrible. Many of the old timers worked literally dozens of different mill, factory and tannery jobs due to layoffs, work slowdowns, business closure, downsizing etc.

The only way many of these workers could survive was by doing side work, hence why so many mill workers also did landscaping, snow plowing, construction work, renovation work, automotive work and handyman work on the side, or full-time during layoffs.

Many mill, factory and tannery workers were injured, killed, or later had health issues, or died due to exposure to toxins. The stink from the mills, factories and tanneries was overwhelming.

We're still cleaning up PCBs, mill waste, tannery waste and other toxic waste dumped/spilled/stored onsite, or dumped in the rivers, streams, lakes, ponds, landfills etc.

[MarkJ]

The U.S. Census Bureau says that 43.6 million Americans are now living in poverty and according to them that is the highest number of poor Americans in the 51 years that records have been kept.

The way poverty is calculated makes things seem much worse than they are since they don't include the value of homes, equity, assets, unclaimed income, family support, nor other benefits and subsidies such as zero/negative taxation, $X,000.00 tax credits/refunds, subsidized public/private housing, food stamps, free school lunches, WIC, foodbank supplements, HEAP, Emergency HEAP, winterization/weatherization, furnace/boiler/water heater repair, maintenance and replacement, home improvements, Medicaid, Child Health Plus, daycare, transportation assistance, free cellular phones/minutes, STAR property tax credits etc.

How Poor Are America's Poor? Examining the "Plague" of Poverty in America

What Is Poverty?

For most Americans, the word "poverty" suggests destitution: an inability to provide a family with nutritious food, clothing, and reasonable shelter. For example, the "poverty Pulse" poll taken by the Catholic Campaign for Human Development in 2005 asked the general public the question: "How would you describe being poor in the U.S.?" The overwhelming majority of responses focused on homelessness, hunger or not being able to eat properly, and not being able to meet basic needs.[7]

But if poverty means lacking nutritious food, adequate warm Housing, and clothing for a family, relatively few of the 37 million people identified as being "in poverty" by the Census Bureau could be characterized as poor.[8] While material hardship does exist in the United States, it is quite restricted in scope and severity. The average "poor" person, as defined by the government, has a living standard far higher than the public imagines.

Chart 1 shows the ownership of property and consumer durables among poor households. The data are taken from the American Housing Survey for 2005, conducted by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Census Bureau, the Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) conducted by the Census Bureau, and the Residential Energy Consumption Survey conducted by the U.S. Department of Energy.[9]

As the chart shows, some 43 percent of poor households own their own home. The typical home owned by the poor is a three-bedroom house with one-and-a-half baths. It has a garage or carport and a porch or patio and is located on a half-acre lot. The house was constructed in 1969 and is in good repair. The median value of homes owned by poor households was $95,276 in 2005 or 70 percent of the median value of all homes owned in the United States.[10]

Some 73 percent of poor households own a car or truck; nearly a third own two or more cars or trucks. Eighty percent have air conditioning; by contrast, in 1970, only 36 percent of the general U.S. population had air conditioning. Nearly nine in ten poor households own microwaves; more than a third have automatic dishwashers.

Poor households are well equipped with modern entertainment technology. It should come as no surprise that nearly all (97 percent) poor households have color TVs, but more than half actually own two or more color televisions. One-quarter own large-screen televisions, 78 percent have a VCR or DVD player, and almost two-thirds have cable or satellite TV reception. Some 58 percent own a stereo.

More than a third of poor households have telephone answering machines. Roughly a third have both cell phones and conventional landline telephones. More than a third have personal computers. While these numbers do not suggest lives of luxury, they are notably different from conventional images of poverty.


The following are facts about persons defined as "poor" by the Census Bureau, taken from various government reports:

* Forty-three percent of all poor households actually own their own homes. The average home owned by persons classified as poor by the Census Bureau is a three-bedroom house with one-and-a-half baths, a garage, and a porch or patio.
* Eighty percent of poor households have air conditioning. By contrast, in 1970, only 36 percent of the entire U.S. population enjoyed air conditioning.
* Only 6 percent of poor households are overcrowded. More than two-thirds have more than two rooms per person.
* The average poor American has more living space than the average individual living in Paris, London, Vienna, Athens, and other cities throughout Europe. (These comparisons are to the average citizens in foreign countries, not to those classified as poor.)
* Nearly three-quarters of poor households own a car; 31 percent own two or more cars.
* Ninety-seven percent of poor households have a color television; over half own two or more color televisions.
* Seventy-eight percent have a VCR or DVD player; 62 percent have cable or satellite TV reception.
* Eighty-nine percent own microwave ovens, more than half have a stereo, and more than a third have an automatic dishwasher.

As a group, America's poor are far from being chronically undernourished. The average consumption of protein, vitamins, and minerals is virtually the same for poor and middle-class children and, in most cases, is well above recommended norms. Poor children actually consume more meat than do higher-income children and have average protein intakes 100 percent above recommended levels. Most poor children today are, in fact, supernourished and grow up to be, on average, one inch taller and 10 pounds heavier than the GIs who stormed the beaches of Normandy in World War II.


Overall, the typical American defined as poor by the government has a car, air conditioning, a refrigerator, a stove, a clothes washer and dryer, and a microwave. He has two color televisions, cable or satellite TV reception, a VCR or DVD player, and a stereo. He is able to obtain medical care. His home is in good repair and is not overcrowded. By his own report, his family is not hungry and he had sufficient funds in the past year to meet his family's essential needs. While this individual's life is not opulent, it is equally far from the popular images of dire poverty conveyed by the press, liberal activists, and politicians.

[ian807]

How de-industrialization plays out isn't at all obvious.

F'rinstance. China's export economy. Hell, all of today's export economies for that matter, depend on cheap oil.

After oil depletion starts and prices rise, cheap shipping slowly disappears. Maybe not so slowly if Russia, Iran, Iraq and others all decide one day to stop selling oil and keep it for themselves. I'd do that if I were them. I'd do it sooner rather than later.

If that happens, you can bet that things like plumbing pipe and solar panels are going to be cheaper to manufacture locally.

Bottom line? Manufacturing will probably come back the the USA. We might not like the wages, but I expect that nobody is going to starve and that there will be work for anyone who's willing and able to look for it. It won't happen tomorrow, but I'd be surprised if it didn't happen within the next 15 years.