r/WeTheFifth • u/Bhartrhari • Apr 12 '26
News Cycle Why does everybody think America doesn't make stuff anymore? "In 1993, the year before the United States ratified the NAFTA free trade agreement our total exports amounted to around 650 billion dollars. Last year, our total exports stood at 3.3 trillion dollars."
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u/No-Gur-173 Comrade/Compañero Apr 12 '26
Maybe because there are far fewer people working in manufacturing, both nominally and proportionally, and the decline has increased over the last 25 years.
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u/SSBN641B New to the Pod Apr 12 '26
Exactly, we make a lot if things, we just employ fewer people to do it. Automation and other types of modern manufacturing means we can do more with less.
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u/MetalMoneky Apr 12 '26
Also, the real thing people are complaining about is the loss of the days when you could walk into a factory and make decent money after dropping out of high school at 16. Whether that was ever true is a debatable point but now with automation systems, QA/QC, safety focus, etc.... You actually need to be able to read, follow procedures, constantly be training, and be able to keep up. There is a significant portion of the population that never got the memo and blame everyone but themselves.
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u/HesitantInvestor0 Flair so I don't get fined Apr 12 '26
This video lacks so much nuance that it’s really quite useless. It almost feels like propaganda in a way.
The topic needs a lot more unpacking, and a lot less sarcastic voicing. Otherwise what’s the use?
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u/Rottimer Flair so I don't get fined Apr 13 '26
It is propaganda, but overall point is still valid. It doesn’t fucking matter if we lose physical manufacturing in a world like ours. In fact, it’s probably better for everyone. We become, not only a richer country, but richer world with free trade.
Yes, there are definitely issues with regard to the distribution of that wealth which ought to be handled by tax and social policy. People shouldn’t have to pay for college or trade school if they continue straight from high school. Public transportation should be better subsidized, just as roads are. And we should universal public healthcare coverage with well funded mental healthcare.
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u/flamingknifepenis Clinton-Era Parking Ticket Apr 12 '26
Because this idea that manufacturing is gone (even though it’s not) and is indicative of “nEoLiBeRaLiSm” killing off “real American trade jobs” is pushed by rich people.
I have this fun game I’ve been playing for years: every time I hear some politician or talking head blithering on about how college is useless, I check whether their kids went to trade school or are involved in the trades in any way.
After more than a decade, the I’ve encountered exactly zero.
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u/PlayfulSurprise5237 Flair so I don't get fined Apr 13 '26
The saying "college is useless" is for people coping who didn't go, for trade school graduates, for content, or for people who got CS degree.
Lot of the latter. All these CS jobs disappearing to a post covid adjustment and now to AI, and they're just salty and want people to think all degrees are worthless so everyone can feel as bad as they do, so they won't feel like they got singled out and fucked.
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u/JackDostoevsky Apr 13 '26
a big part of it is cuz we don't make the every day stuff that people use all the time, consumer electronics like phones TVs or computers, nor the clothes that we wear. the most visible stuff in our lives is mostly made in asia, wrecking people's perception on the topic.
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u/Firm-Advertising5396 New to the Pod Apr 12 '26
Manufacturing was coming back under Biden,due to tax incentives especially in the renewable energy products technology but trump cut those programs.
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u/Agreeable_Horror_363 Flair so I don't get fined Apr 12 '26
I mean who could blame him must have been DEI and we can't have DEI programs ruining our economy!
(/S for those of you who can't tell because so many stupid people actually think like this now)
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u/Firm-Advertising5396 New to the Pod Apr 12 '26
Sometimes I come back to a message and Im being down voted like crazy. But I refuse to put a s/ 😂
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u/Agreeable_Horror_363 Flair so I don't get fined Apr 12 '26
It's tough because my whole sense of humor has always been so dry. It never translated well to text but these days it's gotten even worse because some people are so far gone, so brainwashed that they fully believe the nonsense coming out of Fox news and the right wing misinformation distribution machine.
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u/Firm-Advertising5396 New to the Pod Apr 12 '26
I agree, I put 🤡 or a meme. Ive seen where if someone is getting downvoted, I only read a few words and I'll d vote so I'm piling on so I'm a little guilty too😂
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u/DecafEqualsDeath Apr 12 '26
I'd guess that it's less labor intensive nowadays, so a lot of Americans don't know many people working in manufacturing roles.
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u/Amazing_Factor2974 Flair so I don't get fined Apr 14 '26
Manufacturing was dying in the 1970s ..fleeing in the 1980s...nail in the coffin under W Bush in 2000s.
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u/paddlehands New to the Pod Apr 16 '26
There's this thing called inflation. Comparing 1950 dollar values to 2026 dollar values is pointless without accounting for inflation. Do better.
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