America’s government is spending lavishly to revive manufacturing
Can an industrial renaissance make America stronger, greener and richer?
At its apogee in the 1930s Ford’s River Rouge complex, just outside Detroit, employed some 100,000 people and produced a car every 49 seconds. Diego Rivera, a Mexican artist, painted a series of murals depicting the heroic workers and futuristic machines, working in harmony to usher in a new era of prosperity.
This article appeared in the Briefing section of the print edition under the headline “Rosy for riveters”
From the February 4th 2023 edition
Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents
Explore the edition
The transactional world Donald Trump seeks would harm not help America
Ukraine, Gaza and China will all test his self-interested approach to diplomacy
Donald Trump is a reckless president, but not yet a lawless one
He has yet to flatly defy a court order, which would initiate a constitutional crisis
America’s military supremacy is in jeopardy
To win future wars it needs new weapons, new suppliers and a new system of procurement
Online scams may already be as big a scourge as illegal drugs
And they are growing fast
Even in India, bureaucracy is being curtailed
Many small steps could make a big difference
Many governments talk about cutting regulation but few manage to
Yet radical deregulation is often a big boost to growth