MANUFACTURE LOCAL

An entrepreneur makes the case for locally centered manufacturing in this debut nonfiction book.

As a business owner whose patented product has been sold to the Ford Motor Company, the United States Army, and the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program, among others, the author is well aware of the difficulties confronting 21st-century manufacturing inside the U.S. Blending his personal success story with commentary on national economic policy, Gardner calls for a renewed national emphasis on manufacturing in this concise treatise and ode to “the unsung strength of America’s core industry.” The book begins with a brief overview of the history of manufacturing in America, suggesting that, as early as the 1700s, pre-Revolutionary Americans recognized that local manufacturing was essential to their individual self-interests and desire for economic independence. The narrative quickly moves through the rise of American manufacturing and steel production in the 19th and 20th centuries prior to its decline in the 1970s as the rustbelt consumed places like the author’s hometown of Lancaster, Ohio. Nuanced in its analysis, the work blames the weakening of American manufacturing both on corporate and government policy. Per Gardner, the outsourcing of labor, complacency regarding “shoddy workmanship,” and corporate mismanagement (combined with a growing emphasis in the 1980s and ’90s on free trade) led to a precipitous decline in American manufacturing. An optimist by nature, the author still has a “fundamental hope for our country” and puts forth a multi-chapter analysis of the ways in which “we can still save manufacturing and, in doing so, rebuild America.” Central to the book’s vision is what Gardner calls “America-first capitalism,” which rejects the unilateral free trade vision of conservative economists like Milton Friedman as well as the principles of globalization endorsed by neoliberals. (In particular, the book endorses tariffs on foreign goods.) According to the author, embracing this approach would not only bolster American jobs but also strengthen America’s national security by making it less dependent upon rival nations like China for things that range from medical supplies to the raw materials needed for infrastructure revitalization. Another proposition calls for the redirection of educational priorities away from college degrees toward trade schools and on-the-job experience—the author posits that “there are too many head chefs in the kitchen and not enough prep cooks, dishwashers, and line cooks.” The book’s concluding chapter stumps for a vigorous government campaign to promote the values of buying American-made goods that would combine the ubiquity of Covid-19 awareness campaigns with classic pro-American propaganda poster imagery celebrating industrial workers.

While overtly political, the book’s down-to-earth, accessible narrative never resorts to the incendiary, hyper-partisan rhetoric that is now commonplace in U.S. political discourse. At less than 118 total pages, the book supports its arguments with more than 80 research footnotes. Some readers may cringe at the author’s use of the politically loaded phrase “America-first” and passing endorsements of the trade policies of controversial politicians like Donald Trump and J. D. Vance, though Gardner is careful to keep the book’s focus on his optimistic views of American manufacturing. Economists who favor free trade and policies that encourage the U.S. to embrace globalization will certainly disagree with the book’s conclusions, but they will also find that their positions are treated fairly within the book’s analysis, which never resorts to strawmen arguments in its critiques.

A well-argued defense of U.S. manufacturing.