The United States manufacturing base is weak, says Donald Trump, the GOP frontrunner and real estate billionaire mogul. According to Trump, Americans “don’t make anything anymore,” and it’s time to change that immediately.
Speaking in an interview with Fox News on Sunday, Trump explained that domestimc manufacturing is facing a death and that businesses, including his own, are taking advatange of a “global trading market.” He noted that he would prefer to use domestic manufacturers for his ties but it’s next to impossible.
“I just ordered 4,000 television sets. You know where they come from?” the billionaire asked host Chris Wallace. “South Korea. And yet we defend South Korea for practically nothing. We have 28,000 soldiers. They’re making a fortune. I don’t want to order them from South Korea. I don’t think anybody makes television sets in the United States anymore… We don’t make anything anymore.”
Currently, the U.S. is the second-largest manufacturer in the world today. The nation’s output is hundreds of billionars per year, and though the manufacturing base has eroded in the past 40 years, it’s still a major component to the economy.
Indeed, the U.S. doesn’t manufacture clothing or television sets anymore, but it does manufacture petroleum, steel, automobiles, aerospace, telecommunications, chemicals, lumber and mining. In fact, one of the country’s biggest industrial outputs is in airplane manufacturing.
It is true that Americans are sitting behind a sewing machine, but they are standing behind a Boeing 747.
The problem with what the U.S. makes in 2015 is they are not labor intensive products. If we made TVs and other items it would provide JOBS.
And the Donald is just now figuring that out over 30 years too late? Talk about lazy thinkers. Lol…
Lol. Everyone knows US manufacturing that largely built the country’s economy has been marginalized and crippled. While attempts to, “bring back maufacturing” are falling flat lately. All know critical manufacturing jobs have long been disappearing overseas. And Mr. Moran’s sewing machine/Boeing 747 analogy could only convince elementary school students long ago. Time for a fynctional reality upgrade, Mr. Moran.