We Must Restore the Rust Belt.
The Rust Belt used to be America's Shenzhen. From Standard Oil in Cleveland to US Steel in Pittsburgh and the Ford Motor Company in Detroit, the heartland was the original motive force behind the American super economy.
Over the past 50 years, the US has systematically offshored manufacturing and shifted from an industrial economy to a services economy. Initially, experts praised the shift to "high-value service industries" such as finance, software, and consulting. However, while total GDP growth rose, the results for everyday Americans were nothing short of disastrous. Middle class incomes stagnated, housing shortages became endemic, and income inequality began to widen at an accelerating pace.
We do not accept this current state of the world as final. Instead, we seek to build a society that increases prosperity for all Americans. To achieve this outcome, the path forward is clear, though by no means easy: we must accelerate high tech domestic manufacturing. Only by scaling lab breakthroughs to mass-production can we unlock new pathways to prosperity for all.
History points the way: before Standard Oil, oil was extremely difficult to refine economically. By scaling advanced refining and ceaslessly vertically integrating, however, the company was able to produce abundant energy affordable to all people.
Similarly, before US Steel, steel was an artisan product made in small batches. Only Carnegie's adoption of the Bessemer process unleashed true mass-production, driving costs low enough to completely rebuild the infrastructure of the modern world in the span of only a few decades.
Our master plan is a direct extension of these historical precedents. To onshore domestic manufacturing, we must:
• Recruit the best young technologists who are passionate about increasing the economic prosperity of all Americans.
• Pioneer frontier manufacturing technologies, and scale them into production.
• Vertically integrate through raw materials to drive down costs and maximize value for our customers.
We are already shipping orders from our pilot sheet metal factory in Chattanooga, TN to top aerospace and defense companies, and we will be rapidly expanding from here.
If you would like to join us on this journey towards a future of radical abundance, please fill out the contact form in the Learn More section or email me directly at jakob@foundation-industries.com.
The future is too important to be deferred to others. If we wish to see change in this world, we must build it ourselves.