The Economic Secret Hidden in a Tiny, Discontinued Pasta

Boom! Give this guy a cigar!

I read the article, Tony.

It provides food for thought as does your post.

This discussion can become as long and wide-ranging as your infamous <---- suggested lightly as in a poor effort to amuse - thread on the impending economic collapse, started some years ago and could have been never-ending.

I'm going to keep this short.

Some people feel that market forces should be allowed to play out unimpeded, like water finding its own level. I'm a small businessman and may be thought of as a capitalist by some, but I'm not dogmatic nor do I adhere to an ideology. I'm more of a transactionalist. When I think about politics, it's more about realpolitik.I also think that some forms of protectionism are good and necessary and I find that being inconsistent is perfectly fine, and is reflective of our being part of the animal kingdom after all.

I'm old enough to remember when Motorola TV sets were made in the US [Let's add Magnavox and GE and Crosley as well as Emerson] as were other electronic entertainment systems and components. If one looks hard enough, one will note that the industry may be on life-support, but is not actually dead.

Pastina is a different thing.

I suspect that the cost to form Pastina is higher than to produce Orzo or Acine De Pepe, either of which are the functional equivalent of Pastina. The shapes are easier to form though and the cost to form these shapes must be lower than for Pastina and may result in higher profit margins.

It is much more important for the US to revitalize it's machining capabilities, it's tool and die industry, and to breathe new life into the ability to produce electronic components domestically. From personal experience, I can state that we do have a vital electronic manufacturing business sector and that it is about to grow.

Why?

Covid and the war in Ukraine are reteaching us some old lessons that we apparently needed to relearn. One of the ways we learn things is by repetition.

We in the West will not be as dependent on China, for example, in the next decade or three as we have been in the past half-century, of that I am confident.

That's it for now. 😉

Cheers,

~ Joe

Thanks for posting the link Tony. Another quote “It would not be the first time a seemingly simple manufactured product proved difficult to obtain. Several years ago, Apple suspended its effort to assemble iPhones and Mac Pros in America because it couldn’t reliably source some tiny screws. The tool and die landscape in the United States was reportedly so diminished that even a tech titan like Apple couldn’t easily commission these particular components reliably. How? It’s just a screw. But if you wish to make a screw, you must first invent the universe. Or, at least invent a full-dress tool-and-die manufacturing industry, one of whose outputs is a tiny screw.

Because it isn’t just the die. It’s the tools and machines that make dies. And the tools and machines that make those machines. And the ecosystem of engineering knowhow and tacit knowledge that make all of it run smoothly and efficiently enough, when America loses a manufacturing sector to Asia, we’re not just losing the manufacturing plants. We’re also losing all of that accumulated knowledge embodied in the workers who maintained it.”

I hope Joe is right and we do re-shore manufacturing, however it may need to be accompanied by a revaluation of working with one’s hands, one manifestation of this is the lack of watchsmiths we all bemoan.

Another manifestation of this is US immigration law. When my grandfathers arrived here from farms in Italy they were able to gain skills and learn English. Neither went past 6th grade yet one helped me learn to read as a kid in the funny papers, running his calloused finger along they captions as he read. The other taught me how to make fishing tackle in his basement workshop. Both were able to buy homes in NYC and burn their mortgages by age 50.

My dad joined the US Navy after high school and gained skills that led to a job as a computer engineer. I graduated City College and spent 30+ years in software, never put anything together or took it apart for work but at least learned from family how to build and maintain things. A cousin of mine graduated what was then called Manual High School on 7th Ave. He’s worked for an airline over 40 years, they keep raising his pay in order to keep him from retiring. Sadly the school no longer offers vocational programs, it was renamed John Jay High School in the 70’s and more recently reimagined as Millennium High School. At least we still have Brooklyn Tech….

My wife emigrated to US from Europe 33 years ago, she had to first graduate with a master’s, pass an English test and prove she had a job offer before she got a green card. She’s a success per the current US immigration rules, she creates jobs for dozens of others US citizens. Coincidentally she designs furniture and is also manually dexterous. Our kids all went to university and are gainfully employed but none works with their hands for pay. One has a side gig selling game controllers he fashions out of pallets on Etsy so all my efforts teaching them to use tools were wasted.

Nearly 80% of US GDP is service sector so how will we man this industrial revival spoken of so often now ? Perhaps if we valued manual labor more we wouldn’t be in this pickle ? Is everyone who wants to emigrate to the US without a college degree destined to a life picking fruit or mowing lawns ?

“Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand a mighty woman with a torch. . .”

Tony, I haven’t read the article you linked to - but I should say you do have a talent for writing.
Many people here as a matter of fact are remarkably articulate writers - but I did have to note you sure know how to set up a narrative.

Gee I hate to be THAT guy, or maybe it just struck a chord. I've been in manufacturing my whole life, first on the floor making copper collars on an anvil by hand, working my way through college to be an industrial engineer. I've traveled the whole world many times over. America is still the worlds manufacturer. The pablum in the media makes everyone think we are a step child to china. It is 100% untrue. The vast majority of china is still farmers and subsistence living. The tech centers and manufacturing scale gets a lot of attention but Americans listen to it and say look at china eating our lunch. It gets ratings the same as everything else that either looks sexy, or looks like a train wreck. For the most part, manufacturing in china sucks. But I'm off topic now....my point is that if it's true that the reason Apple couldn't get screws, it's because they wouldn't pay for it. Because it is absolutely possible to make a zillion little screws of good quality in the good ole USA. But China can conscript its farmers to work in industrial sites(yes they do) for next to nothing, make them live at the factory, wear factory clothing, give permission to have children(or not), etc etc etc. Apple is NOT the healthy woke green planet company many think it is. That being said, I'm sure their conditions for labor are better then most, but that is defined within the context of the Chinese culture and govt. The Best labor conditions in China would be considered next to worst here in the US. As a contrast, some of the best working conditions I've seen are actually in Mexico. A story for another time......

I don't have much to add but an interesting memory...

I was born and raised in NW Pennsylvania ~ a hot bed of T&D (Tool and Die). Specifically Meadville Pennsylvania, home to and of the invention of the "Hookless Fastener", the zipper ~ Talon, Channellock Tools and Dad's dog food. These three corporations along with countless independent tool & die companies were our bread & butter and what put essentially a four corner town on the map (Sharon Stone came later).
My dad, a CPA, and his firm had exclusive contracts with Dad's, Channellock and probably 60% of all the tool & die businesses... we, as a family, benefitted tremendously from that of course but not for nothing - my dad and his firm did a great job and stood behind every human they worked for even when it came to the inevitable summoning of Uncle Sam and the IRS.

Me... at least half of my childhood friends were the sons and daughters of tool & die dads and families.
Half of that half worked weekends and went to VoTech for the other part of each day spent at high school with one and only one path in mind, "Work under dad after high school, and eventually take over the business."
Not a one of them wanted it but that didn't mean shit... they did it.

And then a weird thing happened. We all graduated HS and all but one tool and die kid stayed and did what was in his DNA. The rest either said "fυck this" and left or, and most interesting, the dads themselves said "No, I want you doing something else," and sent them to college for engineering or design.

Talon is long dead - acquired by Textron and eaten alive by YKK, Dad's Dog Food - America's oldest privately held dog food company - died a miserable death in 2010 and the name was acquired by Ainsworth Pet Nutrition to re-up at some point I suppose, Channellock is and has been there since 1886 but outside of their most expensive line of "Made in the USA" tools has their products made in China... and tool & die is 98% gone but not because it died by its own hand but because no American manufacturers wanted it any longer based on price point from either or both China & Mexico.

It takes three to tango I suppose:
Manufacturing
Labor
Competition
...and my small town arrived at the dance with perfect timing but stayed too late.

Well, in reality it is already happening. And has been happening for many years. The product costs are rising rapidly in china, as they become more selective in what growth areas the CCP wants. And the technological innovation that already exists here in the USA, is quite difficult to replicate in China without huge capital outlay and ugly bedfellows, as it is for most developing countries.

You see, it wasn't low labor cost that drove business in China, it was low product cost. A VERY important distinction, and a unique function of a socialist/totalitarian govt that can assign price in markets at the wave of a hand.

I'd say be careful what you wish for. The US does not need more environmental pollution caused by factories.

Boutique = +20% upcharge.

Curated watches, artisan water, bespoke sourdough, small batch asparagus, hand select...

everyone is angling for an angle or so it seems.

Choice is always good until there's too much of that as well.
Humans, as I age and hopefully gain some wisdom, seem to do better with *some* choice but not *too much* choice.
But I'm veering off into philosophical/psychological mind goop here.