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In the 1950s manufacturing generated nearly 30 percent of U.S. income. Over the past fifty-five years, that share has gradually declined to less than 12 percent, at the same time that real estate, finance, and Wall Street trading have grown. While manufacturing’s share of the U.S. economy shrinks, it expands in countries such as China and Germany that have a strong industrial policy. Meanwhile Americans are only vaguely aware of the many consequences—including a decline in their self-image as inventive, practical, and effective people—of the loss of that industrial base.
Reporting from places where things were and sometimes still are “Made in the USA”—Albany and New York, New York; Boston; Detroit; Fort Wayne and Indianapolis, Indiana; Los Angeles; Midland, Michigan; Milwaukee; Philadelphia; St. Louis; and Washington, DC—longtime New York Times economics correspondent Louis Uchitelle argues that the government has a crucial role to play in making domestic manufacturing possible. If the Department of Defense subsidizes the manufacture of weapons and war matériel, why shouldn’t the government support the industrial base that powers our economy?
Combining brilliant reportage with an incisive economic and political argument, Making It tells the overlooked story of manufacturing’s still-vital role in the United States and how it might expand.
"Uchitelle's evidence comes largely from years of visiting factories and knowledgeably interviewing workers, management, owners, and public officials—valuable evidence that makes this book worth reading."
—Choice
"Readers interested in U.S. labor and economics history, globalization, and political economy will find Uchitelle’s latest to be deeply engrossing, convincing, and thoughtfully written."
—Booklist
"A robust and fatalistic argument for a return to American greatness."
—Kirkus Reviews
"An elegant swan song for a lost era of U.S. manufacturing greatness. . . Uchitelle convincingly debunks explanations that blame supposedly unskilled workers for their own plight."
—Publishers Weekly
"Is there any way to bring back the manufacturing jobs that once supported the American working class? Louis Uchitelle, who so ably chronicled the massive layoffs of the ’80s and ’90s for the New York Times, thinks yes—if we are willing to accept the fact that manufacturing has always been publicly subsidized and owes the public something in return. If we should ever again have a rational and enlightened federal government, they couldn’t do better than to start by reading this book."
—Barbara Ehrenreich, author of Nickel and Dimed
"Both a lamentation and a blueprint for manufacturing in America, this compelling and humane book demonstrates the intimate connection between good work and national well-being. Making It is economics with a heart."
—Mike Rose, author of The Mind at Work: Valuing the Intelligence of the American Worker
"Here’s a surprise: it is Big Government that makes manufacturing possible—yes, even here. And we better stop thinking otherwise if we want to compete in the world economy. Louis Uchitelle, the great New York Times journalist—and, for me, one of our best writers on the economy—makes the case for ‘making it.’ In this wonderfully readable book, he explains why the future of manual labor rests in our own hands."
—Tom Geoghegan, author of Only One Thing Can Save Us: Why America Needs a New Kind of Labor Movement
"Manufacturing goods in the United States rather than overseas matters in ways few understand as deeply as Louis Uchitelle, who for three decades has chronicled how government policy damaged this value adding sector of the economy."
—David Cay Johnston, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Divided: The Perils of Our Growing Inequality
"Louis Uchitelle brings the vital importance of American manufacturing to life. . . He effectively describes the important role manufacturing can and must play in our economy and delivers a wake-up call regarding the aggressive government action necessary to ensure that manufacturing remains the ‘foundation of our nation’s power.’"
—Rep. Sander M. Levin (D-MI)
Praise for The Disposable American:
"A tour de force of reporting, analysis, and—best of all—suggested solutions."
—Barbara Ehrenreich
"A strong case that the whole middle class is at risk."
— The New York Times
"An overdue wake-up call that could start making the wisdom of layoffs that much less conventional."
— San Francisco Chronicle
"Incisive. . . . An airtight case against the common wisdom that favors job cuts."
— Businessweek
"Uchitelle writes about the moral failings of our modern corporate structure with deep and persuasive insight. That alone makes the book a must-read."
— Detroit Free Press
New Britain, CT-Stanley Works
Chicago, IL-World’s Finest Chocolate
Peoria, IL-Advanced Technology Services
Peoria, IL-Caterpillar
Columbia City, IN-Eagle Tech Academy (vocational school)
Evendale, IN-General Electric
Pella, IA-Vermeer Corporation
Midland, MI-Dow Chemical Corp.
Ferguson, MO- Emerson Electric
St. Louis, MO- Anheuser-Busch
St. Louis, MO- ASPEQ Holdings (private equity firm)
St. Louis, MO-Ford Motor Company
St. Louis, MO-General Motors
St. Louis, MO-GlaxoSmithKline
St. Louis, MO-Industrial Engineering and Equipment Company (Indeeco)
St. Louis, MO-McDonald-Douglas
St. Louis, MO-Wunderlich Fibre Box Company
Rome, NY-Revere Copper Company
Cincinnati, OH-variety of technical schools, and Proctor and Gamble and G.E. (both closed)
Cleveland, OH-Eaton Corporation
Milwaukee, WI-Milwaukee Gear