Here Come the New Industrialists - by Batya Ungar-Sargon
The United States—once the manufacturing hub of the planet, the envy of the world, the birthplace of the Manhattan Project and the Hoover Dam, the country that defeated the Nazis not with better weapons but superior factories, the nation that built the Empire State Building in a year—has become a country that orders Chinese-made goods on Amazon Prime.
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China builds 2,000 ships a year to our five. It refines 90 percent of the world’s rare earth minerals. It accounts for a third of the world’s manufacturing output, twice what the U.S. produces. It’s also become the largest exporter of cars, with factories that are so automated they’re called “dark factories” because they don’t need lights—there are no humans in them that need to see.
In short, China is eating our lunch. It’s no secret that America’s manufacturing decline has resulted in the decimation of Rust Belt communities and an epidemic of suicide and fentanyl overdoses. Less visible is the crisis in sovereignty it has brought about, with our supply chains—indeed, our economy—largely dependent on what many view as our greatest adversary.
