I disagree with the “We build value/No we don’t” crew. That argument is completely in the echo chamber. Whether you build battleships or tabletop lamps for Walmart, you have to ask today, “can I sell this, and for how much?” In this time of increasing deflationary pressure that question has no “real” answer, because “wealth” is being destroyed. The airlines of the world will likely cancel more airliner orders, AND the consumers of the first world will leave the cheap clothes on the racks, AND the new middle class in China and India (most of whom get by on about USD$10 per day) are also saving rather than spending. Who will buy? When and and at what price will they buy? Until there are new buyers; no one can tell what will sell, or who will be placed to sell it at best advantage.

I have been removing the keys one by one, unplugging the keyboard and shooting I with a firehose for the last 6 months at least once per week. Hope that helps.

TPC

i’ve made my own version of it:

http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/9679/gdpvsdj.gif

very helpful links:
http://www.measuringworth.com
http://www.usgovernmentspending.com
http://www.econstats.com
http://www.usstuckonstupid.com

Can you provide a link to tips on how to clean vomit from the spaces between keyboard keys?
It’s the least you could do…

The online founts of ‘dial-a-fact’ include global production of military capital (ships, subs, jets) in that ranking as well, regardless of location of production, as other readers have noted.
But wait there’s more! When citing the “value” of items produced; they base it on price paid, so of course Boeing etc skew the numbers. But imagine how much the military sales – and its $200 per rivet pricing – skews the ‘data’ upward? Tack on a couple of communication satellites and the likes, dollars for NASA ships, and you really get skewed data.
Then there’s the fact that the recent American bubbles skewed data, esp. related to production goods for Iraq-Afghan armaments, but also airplanes, etc.

If transparent fully-annotated data sources were used, you’d see the true picture of America’s hollowed out manufacturing in comparison to the consumer and business items it imports.