I would imagine it's an economic shell game. Divert cash from profitable sectors to prop up steel. Once all the competition has gone under, you control the market and charge what you want... Once steel is profitable they use the profits to subsidize the next sector they want to control.

Mike

I agree, it surely wasn't due to low taxes and few regulations. They were high and numerous. However, I do believe that low taxes and less regulation would make us a powerhouse again.

Once steel has been undercut and the domestic Mills shut down, they raise prices...our Mills re-open. I don't think Americans would simply forget how to smelt metal altogether.

We scrapped out the majority of our mills... Turned those areas into retail outlets, subdivisions, and parks.

Off topic question Finn... Do they still mine and ship ore out of the Mesabi range? Or has that all gone the way of the dodo too?

Mike

I live south of there. I believe most are shuttered due to a combination of profitability and environmental idiocy of twin city idiots who run our government. Lots of unemployed miners there still vote democrat as that's what the union says to do. That area needs an innovation like fracking had in North Dakota for oil recovery.

I always thought working on a Great Lakes ore freighter would have been a neat job...

I guess that's all gone now. Oh well.

Mike

Have you checked out Klein Tools Heavy-Duty Bolt Cutter? They claim to be made in USA.
https://www.gamut.com/p/klein-tools-heav...CFRxuwQodUYgGDg

Klein Tools web site is at http://www.kleintools.com/

You got that right.

My dad worked one hitch on an ore boat in the late 1950's. He never went into detail as to why it was only one trip. Was from duluth to ohio, because that was his claim to have visited that state. Another guy around here retired from working them. He is about 85, I know him through VFW club. I would like to work on a ore boat, too.

Oh he's a very stable genius though. He told us so.

Get the Kleins. They make excellent tools!

https://www.kleintools.com/catalog/bolt-cutters/standard-bolt-cutters

https://data.kleintools.com/sites/all/pr...s_SellSheet.pdf

some people think places like Gary IN and all of the old steel mills can be restored to their old glory days. Times change, and those days are long gone.

Boco traps on a moped

Somebody got TRIGGERED! LOL

One of the main reasons for that is indirectly tied to economics...

The old "super" mills went the way of the dinosaur because of how they operated. Those giant mills at Gary, Bethlehem, etc... were replaced by the mini mills that are cropping up everywhere. JIT manufacturing phased out the mills that produced millions of tons of inventory. It isn't financially feasible to produce 100,000 tons of a specific product, stockpile it, and hope it sells.

Because of the demand for smaller batches and quicker turnaround, no one can afford to run blast furnaces 24/7 anymore. Smaller mills with electric arc furnaces produce smaller batches of product. More of the rolling and forming is done by automated equipment controlled by a handful of people in a kiosk now.

I worked construction on a new steel mill in SE OK last year. That place was built to make rebar only. An entire plant to make one product... The time from furnace to flatbed was astonishingly fast. They can whip out a batch for a customer, change dies in a blink, and move on to the next batch. All at a speed that no one thought possible a few decades ago.

We should have recognized how the market was going to change decades ago. But we rested on our laurels and didn't innovate... Now we're racing to try and catch up.

Mike

This POTUS is way different than any one we have ever seen. He is a master negotiater, He is putting pressure on countries to renegotiate the bad deals in the past. Although these tarrifs are not a bluff, it will nudge certain parties to the table so the US can get a better deal.

Mr. President may have a summit with N. Korea coming up....if this happens he will negotiate a very good deal for the world.......not give up a bunch of things to this thug regime.

Imagine how many bad things would not have happened if bush jr would have negotiated a good deal with saddam instead of Iraq invasion 2?

That I can agree with. ha

Thanks for the insight. Smaller more flexible manufacturing lets them control the costs and be more competitive.

How many many jobs does a typical new steel plant create?

In addition to those like yourself who do the construction, etc?

I know one thing my 08 Tacoma American steel made with 210000 miles on it no rust. MY buddy 09 Ram with 108000 miles is a rust bucket more holes than swiss cheese China steel.