H*ll, it has lost it already => Can’t even make the pressure vessels any more for nuclear power plants, the pipes for steam plants, the big diesels engines for ships, the ships themselves, the turbines, the generators, the wire, the computers, the steel, the chemicals, ....
Nor even the machines to build the machines to MAKE the machines to build the plants .....
We can still manufactor them. Its just cheaper to do it elsewhere. I don’t understand why people seem to think if we outsource an industry we automatically lose any capability to make it ourselves. If we suddenly couldn’t import manufactored goods, it would be rough but its not like we couldn’t build or convert our own factories. Making shoes and toy planes isn’t rocket science.
NO more calls, please.
We have a winner!
Not disagreeing with your sentiment, but this...
>>Nor even the machines to build the machines to MAKE the machines to build the plants .....<<
Isn’t an issue. There is a glut of machinery on the market. You can buy a Hardinge lathe that is just as accurate today as it was the day it rolled off the line in the 70s for $1500. I just bought 2 of them. I just bought 4 drilling milling machines accurate to a ten thousandth for 5 grand. This stuff is sitting in warehouses all over waiting for someone to use it.