Sometimes it just makes more sense.....

....to cut and paste, rather than link.  This is one of those times.
From the keyboard and blog of Walter Russell Mead:

While Declinists Groan, America’s Factories Hum

Predictions of imminent American decline are looking shakier by the day. A new report cited in the Wall Street Journal finds that manufacturing has expanded dramatically over the past month and looks set to continue. Fears that the U.S. could never compete with low-cost competition in Asia or the high-end products of Europe are overblown. For all its problems, there are still plenty of signs of life in American industry.

None of this should come as a surprise. Americans’ deep and abiding attraction to newness, change, and innovation have long been one of this country’s strong suits. The drive to improvise, adapt, and overcome, to borrow a favorite slogan from the U.S. Marine Corps, has allowed America to weather centuries of global strife, emerging stronger and more prosperous after the winds cease to blow. These qualities haven’t gone anywhere, and the world itself isn’t slowing down any to let the laggards catch up. Good.

America’s pains are growing pains, not the pangs of dissolution and decay.

Go Team!