What Does America Produce?

While I was in California visiting my brother on his show ControlTV, we took a tour of the Los Angeles area. During our tour, a few comments were made about what America 'produces' for the rest of the world.  One producer argued that the US no longer produces the vast amount of tangible products that it used to-- a lot of that responsibility has been delegated to countries with massive populations like China, Indonesia, and India.  The conversation turned to the idea that American entertainment was one of the last things the the United States produces for the rest of the world--and even Bollywood is threatening to usurp the popularity of Hollywood--Bollywood services the 1.2 billion people in India. There are only 300 million people in the US.

Initially, the conversation saddened me. It seemed to fit in with the media's apocalyptic forecasts of the United State's future.  One of the most noticeable and prominent "products" America provides to the International community is Entertainment.  My brother is a burgeoning starlet. I should be happy. 

I think anyone would agree that they want to be part of a society that they believe has some sort of higher value beyond reality shows.  We are operating in a huge deficit, where our debt is owned by Japan and China.  Factory jobs have disappeared.  So, are we making anything? What do we have to show for ourselves?

After some reflection and research, I have discovered that the this line of thinking (that America does not produce much beyond entertainment) is categorically incorrect.  Hollywood is not the only major 'thing' being produced by America for the rest of the world. The United States is exporting more products than it ever has in the past.  The illusion that we are no longer on top is created by the fact that most of product manufacturing has been mechanized.  The more machines we have, the less people we need.  Therefore we begin to believe that manufacturing in the US has subsided.

To this day, the United States still has the largest manufacturing output of any country in the world.  A quick Wikipedia search tells me that "The United States is the world's largest manufacturer, with a 2007 industrial output of US$2.69 trillion. In 2008, its manufacturing output was greater than that of the manufacturing output of China, India, and Brazil combined, despite manufacturing being a very small portion of the entire US economy as compared to most other countries." Our agribusiness is huge-- we control half of the world's grain exports.

Additionally, the US's Medical and Technological innovations surpass every developed country.These ideas are exported throughout the world in the form of medicine for people with a host of illnesses, aerospace technology, and let's not forget--social networking websites.

Another important point--even though the United States delegated a lot of its production to other countries, the products are still inherently American.  For example, Ralph Lauren produces its clothing in China, but Ralph Lauren is an American company.   The fact that products are made elsewhere does not mean we don't have claim to take credit for the brand.  There is no doubt that people around the world gravitate towards American clothing brands.

It is important to not confuse production with lack of jobs, trade deficits, and  recessions.  In terms of making "stuff", we are still leading the way.  We don't exist only for entertainment's sake. 

More Reading:
An interesting article on perceptions of the US in Europe:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124534162608828017.html