Free Forum Q&A: Rebirth of US Manufacturing - James Fallows, Charles Fishman

Aired: 03/31/13I do my best to question conventional wisdom, but I had heard and repeated the fact that the US had lost its manufacturing and it was never coming back so often that I assumed it must be true. But I pick up the December 2012 issue of the Atlantic magazine recently and two articles jump out at me - both declaring that manufacturing is re-emerging. James Fallows writes of US startups exploiting new technologies to speed up the process of design-to-product, and Charles Fishman writes about US corporations like GE moving production back to the US. James Fallows' article, Mr. China Comes to America, opens with these words: "For decades, every trend in manufacturing favored the developing world and worked against the Unites States. But new tools that greatly speed up development from idea to finished product encourage start-up companies to locate here, not in Asia." That got my attention! Charles Fishman's article The Insourcing Boom goes even a step further. It's opening words: "After years of offshore production, General Electric is moving much of its far-flung appliance-manufacturing operations back home. It is not alone."I make no bones about the fact that I like to report good news, but I don't want to make nice or play Pollyanna. This information from these reporters strikes me as the real thing and I'm only too glad to admit I may have prematurely buried "made in America".