While emptying the old house I ditched the microwave oven. It was almost 20 years old (bought in 1991) and getting kind of grungy. But it worked flawlessly the whole time. Out of curiosity I looked on the back and saw that it was made in Iowa.
One thing I bought for my girlfriend this Christmas was a new microwave. Her old microwave was purchased only 4 years ago, but the large rectangular button that you push to open the door was broken. I looked at the back. That microwave oven was not manufactured in Iowa, or anywhere within a 3,000 mile radius. I think I'd rather pay the extra $50 for a better-quality appliance that lasts for almost 2 decades.
Anyway, for you youngsters out there I just wanted to let you know that Americans used to manufacture things you use every day. Believe it or not!
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We export, let alone use internally, near 2 trillion dollars of goods. It may be more as a lot of high tech services are hard to count.
Anyways, I was a supervisor in a manufacturing plant in Florida. We exported. We went heavily into automation and basically cut costs in half, doubled quality and production, near nigh eliminated waste and reduced labor by near 2/3, and reduced labor effort/work/fatigue of the remaining workers.
It's what you have to do. Everyone world wide is hip to the cost cutting,quality methods. It is do or die.
For a few years I lived in the old Massachusetts city of Lowell. It's pretty grim now, but it used to be the world wide cutting edge city for fabrics, mills and such. There were 'Mechanics Halls' all over, as their were in all towns.
Being a skilled mechanic was a status position.
Now, no matter how much you make, working with your hands is declasse. Everyone wants to go to law school.
Our elites don't know how to make, repair, fix, farm, ranch, serve in the military, build. But they do know how to talk.
You can get/borrow/be loaned a couple of hundred grand to go get a masters degree in queer theator lighting from Yale. Try getting twenty grand to get a ticket in programmable logic controllers.
That tells you who and what our values are.
Yes, we need a better system (better than current community colleges) for "trade school" for those kids not wanting to go to college.
And change employers' attitudes - most seem to say "don't apply to wash windows w/o a college degree"
My almond-colored washer/dryer are 20 year old Whirlpools which have needed minimal repairs (themostat set, new lid switch)
I'm keeping them until they can no longer be repaired.
We make the equivalent of your broken micro button – American automotive scrap iron.
We don't manufacture much because the "average" American company is run by Boomers... people who collectively barely know how to wipe their own asses without asking their kids/grandkids for help.
It's true my generation (born in 1960 I believe makes me a boomer?) has effed up the greatest country in human history beyond all recognition.
One day soon our kids will rightly demand to know how it all came to this.
Bill in NC is totally right. We need to bring back skilled trades education. College isn't for everyone and teaching kids college prep when they have narry an intention in hell of ever setting foot in a college is useless. That's why so many drop out.
If you give them an education that they can use to get their feet in on decent jobs, they'll stay.
Would be curious to see how much that older microwave cost, in today's dollars. I'm guessing it was more than 2x the cost of today's comparable (in features, not durability) unit.
That said, yeah, I wish we had the option.
My parents bought a Montgomery Ward microwave for about $500 back in the early '80's. It lasted over 15 years.
I bought a Goldstar oven 2 years ago. It lasted for 3 months until the magnetron blew out. At least it was under warranty.
I work for a very, very, did I say very large international steamship company and the gulf is my territory. I can assure you that the US, and specifically the HOU area still has a large and expanding manufacturing base. In fact I don't spend a lot of time selling imports rather exports out of HOU and other locations. OWS (Oil Well Supplies), chemicals, resin, steel pipe, grain and animal feed, its a long list and the EXP market is getting better. Overall I IMP more to the US WC but we do have a strong mix of exports as well. In fact, our exports to China grew more than 40%last year.
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