Consuming concerns in the USA

摘要

For the last decade or more the state of the North American economy has decided the fate of the world economy but increasingly this is based on spending rather than producing. The North American leather industry brings starkly into focus the global trend in the changing locations of manufacture. There is no doubt that the USA has moved from being a nation of pioneers in manufacturing to a consumer state and the leather sector has been affected particularly badly by the general swing away from domestic production to offshore facilities. As statistics show a steep increase in the imports of consumer goods, so those for leather manufacturing illustrate the complete reverse.