Bring It Home

Is the U.S. built to make things, or just regulate them? On this end-of-year episode of Bring It Home, JP Hampstead breaks down trillions in manufacturing and industrial investment announcements from 2025, with many tied to direct negotiations with the Trump White House, and what they actually mean for America’s re-industrialization push. JP also dives into a powerful idea from Breakneck: China’s Quest to Engineer the Future by Dan Wang, reviewed by Charles Yang in American Affairs: China as an engineering state and America as a "lawyerly" society. Follow the Bring It Home Podcast Other FreightWaves Shows Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What happens if Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern merge into a true transcontinental railroad?On this episode of Bring It Home, JP Hampstead sits down with SONAR’s Mike Baudendistel to unpack why shareholders overwhelmingly support the merger, why some shipper groups are opposed, and the impact it could have on U.S. and North American reindustrialization. Follow the Bring It Home Podcast Other FreightWaves Shows Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Officials from the Great Lakes Economic Development Council talk to JP Hampstead about the opportunities and challenges in driving capital investment into a cross-border region that happens to be one of the world's greatest industrial centers. Follow the Bring It Home Podcast Other FreightWaves Shows Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

JP Hampstead gives a presentation to shippers about what macroeconomic data tells us about production, employment, productivity, and the prospects for reindustrialization at FreightWaves' Future of Freight Festival in Chattanooga, TN. In this episode JP covers: - Why U.S. manufacturing output hasn’t recovered since the Great Recession - The surprising role of energy production in “industrial growth” - How offshoring reshaped America’s productivity curve - Why AI is now the largest driver of U.S. energy demand - Whether the big White House manufacturing announcements are real - Why nuclear power is surging back - How productivity gains reshape the workforce (100 years of data) - What the U.S. must fix to get industrial production unstuck Subscribe to the Newsletter: https://bringithome.us Subscribe to the Bring It Home YouTube Channel #FreightWaves #Manufacturing #Reindustrialization #SupplyChain #F3 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

SONAR's Director of Freight Market Intelligence Zach Strickland sits down in studio with JP to discuss macroeconomic data around the American manufacturing economy, industrial production, and employment. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Economic Innovation Group researcher Connor O'Brien discusses his research on Ohio's high-tech workforce, the role of immigration in growth, and how to reform the H1-B lottery with JP Hampstead. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Brooks Mendenhall of Astronomy Magazine joins host JP Hampstead for a conversation about SpaceX's unique approach to manufacturing the Starship. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Dale Jordan from BDO USA discusses the tax implications of the One Big Beautiful Bill with JP Hampstead, including bonus depreciation, R&D expensing, and other provisions designed to stimulate manufacturing investment and reindustrialization. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Historian and energy writer Emmet Penney, host of the Nuclear Barbarians podcast, discusses the role nuclear power will play in America's reindustrialization with JP Hampstead, with wide-ranging commentary on the history of nuclear policy and recent announcements by Westinghouse. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jason Roberts, SVP of Digital Enablement at Mode Global, sits down in the studio with JP to talk about how freight brokerage's business models and technology have changed since the pandemic, and puts it in the context of Chattanooga's freight scene. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Zane Hengsperger of NOX Metals / Delta22 tells JP Hampstead about going from tech to steel manufacturing and the rich heritage of automotive manufacturing in Windsor, Detroit, and the Great Lakes region. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Charles Yang tells JP Hampstead about his contribution to the Techno-Industrial Playbook, which explains the levers that the government can pull to expand financing for domestic critical mineral processing. Charles and JP discuss the economics of minerals commodity markets and the risks that domestic processors take on by entering a market whose prices can be manipulated by China. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Surface Transportation Board regulates railroad freight markets, maintaining a competitive landscape in the industry and ensuring that shippers have good service. Chairman Fuchs explains to JP Hampstead and Stuart Chirls how the STB is also enabling American reindustrialization. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Buffalo is growing again! Tom Kucharski, President and CEO of Invest Buffalo Niagara, tells JP about the long road to reindustrializing the Buffalo - Niagara region, including the Micron 'megafab' semiconductor plant currently under construction. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

West Brow Capital founder and portfolio manager Seth Holm runs a fund focused on global transportation. In this episode recorded on April 8, Seth sits down with JP Hampstead and runs through his view of the transportation industry, mode by mode—where he's long and short. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sylvatex foudner and CEO Virginia Klausmeier tells JP about waterless lithium battery production processes, the future of climate tech, and the complexities of rebuilding industry in human geographies. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

American Affairs founder and editor Julius Krein offers his vision of what America’s next industrial policy should be in a conversation with JP Hampstead. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Union Pacific EVP and Chief Information Officer Rahul Jalali shares how the storied railroad is implementing technology, from shipment visibility to the physics simulator that keeps UP's trains from derailing. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Norfolk Southern's VP of Business Development and First and Final Mile Markets Stefan Loeb talks to JP Hampstead and FreightWaves staff writer Stuart Chirls about the railroad's work with industrial clients, from site selection and development to specialized customer service. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Aaron Slodov, CEO of Atomic Industries and co-founder of the New American Industrial Alliance talks to JP Hampstead about rebuilding and modernizing America's industrial base and why the time is right for a new coalition of industrialists, technologists, and policymakers to come together on a strategic vision. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Boom Supersonic CEO Blake Scholl tells JP Hampstead the story of the XB-1's historic supersonic flight. Blake explains how the XB-1 broke the sound barrier without creating an audible sonic boom, and why that matters for the future of supersonic aviation. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Rosemary Coates, executive director of the Reshoring Institute, explains the economic and supply chain factors influencing a company's decision to bring its production back to American shores in a conversation with Craig and JP. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Geoff Bailey, Logistics Project Manager at minerals giant Imerys, describes the company's operations and the wide variety of end customers using silicates and other minerals in a conversation with Craig and JP. We discuss the importance of strategic site selection and transportation networks in bringing minerals to market. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Brian McMorris, founder and president of Futura Automation, tells Craig and JP about how the industries that are moving back to the United States and how robotics and investments in automation can play a role in reshoring decisions. They discuss sectors from electronics to medical devices and explain the economics of mass production. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ryan Clayton, Global Head of Sales at Nikola Motor Company, sat down with Craig and JP onstage at the Future of Freight Festival (F3) in Chattanooga. They discuss the favorable regulatory environment and ESG environment for zero-emission vehicles, the economics and use cases of battery-electric and hydrogen fuel cell trucks, and how Nikola's production in Arizona is accelerating. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Molson Hart, founder and president of Viahart educational toy company, talks about his experiences in Chinese factories and cities and why he decided to invest in equipment to bring some production and assembly back to U.S. shores. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Boom Supersonic is building the first supersonic commercial jetliner since the Concorde, and they’re doing it at their new factory in North Carolina. CEO Blake Scholl comes to the third episode of Bring It Home to explain to Craig Fuller and JP Hampstead why it’s taken so long for the aerospace industry to innovate, whether the Apollo moon landings were good or bad for space exploration, and how aviation startups bring new products to market faster than incumbents. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Horizontal drilling combined with hydraulic fracturing has transformed the United States into one of the world's biggest energy producers, exporting oil, natural gas, and petroleum products. The next decade of American excellence will seriously depend on the continued dominance of energy production and the expansion of other modes including nuclear power. On this second episode of Bring It Home, Craig Fuller and JP Hampstead welcome Collin McLelland, CEO of @DigitalWildcatters, to talk about growth of energy production and why America is in a place to win again. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bill Dunavant of Dunavant Enterprises joins Craig Fuller and J.P. Hampstead to discuss why Memphis, Tennessee is leading America's reindustrialization renaissance. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bring it Home is the podcast and show where Craig Fuller and J.P. Hampstead discuss and celebrate the reindustrialization revolution that is happening right now in America. Each episode features guests who will share their stories and highlight how companies around the world are making announcements and investments that are impacting American jobs and the economy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices