Recently, I've become aware of the writings of Eamonn Fingleton (website - http://www.fingleton.net/). His main concern, if I am interpreting his writings correctly, is that the US has de-industrialized to a great extent and is in the grip of an ideology that sees this as a non-problem.
Meanwhile, nations like Japan, despite the present slump, retain an advanced and comprehensive industrial base enabling them to manufacture all sorts of goods. He makes a distinction between US factories that perform final assembly and the advanced machine tools infrastructure (dwindling here he says) that create the essential building blocks of the stuff we use.
My question: is Fingleton's thesis correct? Is the US de-industrializing in the way he describes (or at all) and, as a result, placing itself in a position of increasing dependence upon other states for not only capital, but also for advanced goods?
If so, what can the long-term prospects be for an economy built, it appears, upon consumer spending and the lust for ever larger, ever more remotely placed housing?
He seems to have a Japan fixation that is disquieting but this has (to my untrained ear) a ring of truth to it.
Here is a link to a Q and A session in which he lays out his thoughts on this topic:
from
http://www.insightmag.com/news/437040.html
excerpt...
<snip>
Although Japan is known in the West for its leadership in certain consumer products such as cars and television sets, its area of greatest leadership is in much more advanced industries that largely are invisible to the consumer. Specifically, Japan leads almost right across the board in the sort of advanced materials, high-tech components and production machinery that are driving the electronic revolution. Some products may be assembled in the United States, but their key manufacture - the manufacture of the advanced components and materials - is done in Japan.
<snip>
DRM
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