Decades down the line, historians to casual observers will note the decline of American manufacturing as an astounding oddity. Here was a country – the greatest superpower in all of mankind – that ignominiously surrendered its lofty economic status. More perplexing is both the reason and the response.

Let’s talk about the latter. American whites – particularly the conservative variety – love pointing out the shortcomings in others. For instance, they accuse blacks of not rising out of their generally lower-class status due to self-pity and the breakdown of traditional family structures (ie. no daddy in the home).

Some of their criticisms have validity. However, they’re also terribly hypocritical. Whom, for instance, does the auto industry blame for their woes? Their own production processes, the way they market their products, or their (lack of) quality control?

Nope! They blame the Japanese.

Sometimes, they’ll assign blame for the decline of American manufacturing to the Germans. However, they’re white too, so they get a little bit of a pass. Plus, the average American family can’t afford a typical German luxury car. They can, however, afford reliable Japanese cars, thus adding to the vitriol.

With all the histrionics, you’d expect that Americans would eventually look inwardly and start, you know, competing. We live in a capitalist country, as Republicans keep reminding us. Shouldn’t we start acting like it?

 

American Manufacturing Still Sucks

For those that were hoping for some daybreak, they must wait longer. Honestly, though, I wouldn’t hold my breath. American manufacturing has fallen into the toilet, and there’s no coming back.

According to the most recent automotive Consumer Reports data, the top-six most reliable car brands were Asian. Japanese carmakers filled all those slots except one, with Korean manufacturer Kia coming in fifth place.

Part of this just comes down to science, albeit a controversial form of science. Generally speaking, Asian countries are more intelligent than white countries; therefore, we would expect to see Asian manufacturers grab some of the top rankings.

But what’s shocking is that the most reliable American car company is Ford, at 18th place. From there, American brands make up the least reliable vehicles in the 29-car study. The lone exception is Volvo, which the study considers the worst brand.

What happened to Detroit’s promises that they would compete with the Japanese, and to a lesser extent, the Germans? The reality is that American manufacturing is a microcosm of America itself: a self-pitying community that finds blame in everything but themselves.

The situation will not improve anytime soon. Research indicates that Americans are getting dumber. Beyond that, the work ethic in this country is perhaps irreparably broken. Rather than ask what more can we do, American youth now think only in terms of what they can get away with.

In other words, the average American worker is inferior to the average Asian worker in almost every single way. But due to political correctness, the country refuses to do anything about it. Except, of course, blame the Japanese.