Manufacturing was once widely recognized as the outstanding strength of America and the basis of its prosperity, but manufacturing has a more recent history of being almost a pariah. This newer view equated computer chips with potato chips, asserted that manufacturing is better left to others, and suggested that the United States is actually fortunate to be losing manufacturing, replacing it with design, research and services.
But many Americans, witness to the loss of jobs and the devastation of what had been major industrial centers, have not been converted to this new perspective. Polls have clearly shown that most Americans still think that manufacturing matters, and these polls had an impact last year at election time. Politicians of every stripe suddenly rediscovered manufacturing, with high-ranking government officials quickly writing respectable economic studies that cast a more favorable light on manufacturing.
To read the original article: America Can't Be An 'Innovation' Economy Without Manufacturing: Politicians Had Better Figure That Out
