3 ms·
If you are a customer, it is almost by definition "low-value manufacturing", because you have only one household's worth of money to spend, and not a Fortune 50
by nostrademons 1y ago
If you are a customer, it is almost by definition "low-value manufacturing", because you have only one household's worth of money to spend, and not a Fortune 500 company's or nation-state's budget to spend. If you're buying jet engines or nuclear reactors or jet fighters, they are probably made in the U.S. (I probably erred in choosing "consumer electronics" as an example, because most of those are made abroad. Even so, there are some surprises: I just bought a brand-new Toyota Sienna manufactured in Indiana, and a System76 Thelio workstation manufactured in Colorado.)
- mitthrowaway2 1y agoAre jet engines and nuclear reactors really being made in lights-out automated production lines? I struggle to believe that the production quantities are anywhere near high enough to justify that. (Automobiles probably could be, except for their powerful labour unions; automobile production has been highly automated since the 30s.)
- phil21 1y agoIt's a nonsensical argument as you've discovered. It's due to the dollar value of things. And yes, jet engines are about as bespoke as you can get - incredibly man-hours intensive and it reflects in the price. As some point folks will discover that dollars do not actually equal physical goods. Exporting 100 F35s at $100m/ea is not the same value to a country under duress as the capability to manufacture $10B of random consumer goods. Nevermind the supply chain of that F35 is not remotely contained to domestic manufacturing. It's hand-wavy financialization of America speak.
- cameldrv 1y agoGuess what. China is making nuclear reactors and jet engines now. It’s the absolute classic Clayton Christensen situation with countries instead of companies. The incumbent retreats upmarket until they have ceded the entire thing.