It is changing to high value added products. Steve is right when he says that the stores are filled with lots of consumer products from China. However, the nation with the largest manufacturing base in the world is the United States with 21% of the manufacturing world wide.. The US no longer makes tv's, video games, dvd players, etc. We do have the largest marketshare of the integrated circuit manufacturing.

We make more than half of all commercial and military aircraft in the world as well as better than two-thirds of the engines that power these planes. We have lost share is automobile production but dominate in construction and farm equipment. We do not make shoes, but provide the hides that are converted into leather in Brazil and then made into shoes in Italy.

We no longer sew shirts and blouses, (remember, "Look for the union label.") but do produce large quantities of engineering plastics.

Our manufacturing sector has grown steadily since WWII and shows no sign of decline. What has changed is the nature of manufacturing. The 'blue collar' worker we think of when we talk of manufacturing has in large part been replaced by people in white coats working in clean rooms. Think of drugs and medical equipment where we are so far ahead, it is hard to find second place.

Our manufacturing sector will continue to grow if new tax policies do not prop up old industries at the expense of the new and critical sectors. If we do not build cars, that is a loss, but if we lose our way in the new fields such as nano-technology, we are finished as a first rank country.