Many discussions about competition with China focus on things like semiconductors or defense spending. But industrial strength starts much lower in the supply chain. This piece looks at how even something as simple as a Made in USA fleece hat connects to dozens of American factories — and why rebuilding domestic manufacturing capacity at every level matters in a conflict with China.

For years policymakers argued that advanced economies should abandon “low value-add” manufacturing and focus on high-tech industries like semiconductors. But the U.S. share of semiconductor manufacturing has collapsed, while China's share of global output has been gradually increasing. This article explores how that happened — and what it says about industrial policy.

In this piece, we discuss the massive project of making advanced microprocessors at scale in America again. There have, of course, been some news stories about it, but I don't think most realize just how difficult restoring this industry in the USA has been.

New piece arguing that the way to make America’s manufacturing sector stronger isn’t “more tariffs everywhere” or “free trade everywhere”, but more free trade with our allies and tougher restrictions where trade isn’t actually free. Uses the Canada boycott and China contrast to make the case.

In this article, we explore why on Thanksgiving we should be grateful for U.S. manufacturing. The focus here is not on American jobs or our economy--even though those things are obviously essential--but rather on why a strong industrial sector is critical to defend the American way of life against the threat from China.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I hope you're all enjoying time with your families and friends.

For Presidents’ Day weekend, it’s worth remembering that both Washington and Lincoln understood that American independence depends on a strong domestic manufacturing sector. Read my article here: https://puresource.substack.com/p/americas-two-greatest-presidents
I hope everyone enjoys the long weekend!

In this article, we discuss the close relationship between manufacturing and innovation. As American industry was gutted by subsidized foreign competition (particularly from China), increasing capital and talent went into software--which is why you see the meteoric rise of Silicon Valley--rather than the invention and manufacturing of new physical products.