Bob LaNinfa: Without a manufacturing base, America is defenseless
America is no longer the country she once was. There was a time we manufactured just about everything that is now being manufactured in China and other countries. Every product you see in stores adds up to lost jobs for American workers. From autos to farm equipment, lawn mowers, tooth picks and toilet paper, they all were made here by Americans.
In 1940, when we were pulled into a world war, this country switched from making all those products to building planes, tanks, ships, jeeps, trucks, guns, bombs and everything needed to fight, and win, a war. Today our steel mills, foundries, coal mines, lumber industry and machine shops amount to a cup of water in the ocean. Obama wants to remove all guns, but what if, God forbid, Russia, China, North Korea, Iran and other countries that hate us band together and attack America? How long will it take this country to gear up and do what the Greatest Generation did when Imperial Japan bombed Pearl Harbor?
Our leaders are more interested in fighting global warming with wind mills and solar panels; they should be thinking about what if ?
Bob LaNinfa, Modesto
This story was originally published July 1, 2015 at 9:30 AM with the headline "Bob LaNinfa: Without a manufacturing base, America is defenseless."