In the 1950s, when Japan and much of Europe was in ruins, the U.S. accounted for 50% of the world’s global production. By the 1960s, this was 35%, declining to 25% by the 1980s. By 2025, the U.S. share of global production had fallen to 12% as production grew elsewhere. (itif.org, Feb. 18)
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They don’t remember it that way. The fact that the costs of hyperconsumption have been externalised for decades because China has been taking the brunt of it is lost to everyone. Like they would see the (now defunct) pictures of the Beijing smog and have no idea that the responsibility for a part of it falls on them too. Instead they used their racist bias to explain the situation.
The image of manufacturing in their mind is probably highly romanticised. They picture a blue blooded American man working hard eight hours a day coming back to his paid off home, his housewife and his 50 or so children.