The loss of so much manufacturing capacity from the United States over the past decade has had a negative impact on the country's ability to innovate, long considered to be the nation's greatest economic and sociological strength, according to a two-year study from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
The United States no longer has the industrial "ecosystem" necessary to bring new ideas to market. Finance, equipment, suppliers and manufacturers are not available in the United States to make prototypes and scale up commercial production of innovative ideas and products. This holds true for high-tech start-ups, the best small- and medium-sized manufacturing companies, and U.S.-based multinational corporations.
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