Industry That Makes Industry

From:  http://rightleftwrong.wordpress.com/2011/05/31/industry-that-makes-industry/

Cincinnati, Ohio one hundred years ago was once the machine tool capital of the world.  As recently as the 1970s, Cincinnati was home to leading machine tools manufacturers such as Cincinnati Milacron and Carlton.  Factories hummed day and night with the sounds of expert machinists on the lathe creating true precision parts.  The industrial might that beat fascism was made possible by American machining.  Every bullet fired, every tank, every plane in the sky over Europe, all of these were made possible through an accessible, ready supply of American tool and die.

The globalization of industry that has hollowed out the industrial base of the entire country can be seen in the demise of American machine tool manufacture and market share.  Domestic market share held by American machine companies is barely 30%.  Even if we wanted to properly reindustrialize we would be beholden to foreign interests for the very tools to kit the factories.  This is tragic.  Strategically, the loss of control of capacity this represents means that were we to end up in a hellish, true war against a credible threat we have no native way to upscale our defense manufacturing needs.  Economically, this loss is a good representation of why so many of our young people's highest legitimate aspirations will end with them serving burned coffee at a Starbucks.  Skilled, fulfilling, well-paying manufacture has been on the wane for longer than they have been alive.

The only lucrative path in the early 21st century seems to be the path of finance.  Wall Street always wins big.  Owning your regulators and media outlets can't hurt.  The recovery hasn't.  It has been a lie spun of whole cloth.  Main Street has been mugged, government is nearly insolvent, those lucky enough to have jobs won't see a real raise and are more likely to see their purchasing power decrease as the dollar radically devalues thanks to QE.  Young graduates, freshly laden with student debt, can be sure to find applications at the counter of the nearest Starbucks.  Or are they online only now, I cannot recall.

It all goes back to industry.  Industry that creates industry.  Policy promotes growth.  If you build a massive highway system, cities will sprawl to take advantage of cheaper land resources on the outer belts.  If you kill tariffs, nations which utilize serf-grade labor practices will siphon off industry.  A free people need be a productive people.  An America built on entitlement and finance, ever more stratified, is an America begging tyranny.  The more important finance becomes and the more the average person relies on government handouts to meet their basic needs the less free we become.  The more we enslave our youth to debt through ever heavier student debt burdens the less entrepreneurial chances those kids can take in the future.  The more we punish risk and reward rent seeking behavior the closer we are to feudal hierarchies with rights and privileges for the financial elite.

Freedom isn't free and policy can promote freedom.  We need to promote the growth of American machining and American tool and die.  Should we need to reindustrialize as fuel costs soar and resource wars loom on the horizon, we will need the expertise and capabilities here at home.  We need these things should we wish to remain a free people in the days to come.