It has been a long time coming and the realization sneaks up on you: America is  becoming a purchasing, not a producing nation.

       I live in a smaller, population-stable borough in Bergen County. Railroad freight tracks go through it as they do in so many towns but what is left of them is rusty. The stone ballasted rights of way in most places are devoid of tracks and ties, turned into recreational paths. Where branch sidings once prevailed they are gone. Sure, trucks do bulk deliveries but none so cheaply as a rail car yet the need for sidings and rail cars and freight tracks is nearly zilch. Drive around where you live. Open your eyes and you will see that the many small factories, most of brick that shows the artistry of the masons of yore, are closed. They are in decay, have been converted to storage and other uses or are sitting empty with signage declaring their availability.  Those buildings once housed machines worked by locals who converted raw material into finished goods or into the next stage of the manufacturing process. The machines are gone, the jobs are gone, the shells that housed them are all that is left.

      Over the past half century our cottage industries and major manufacturers have declined. Detroit, home of the auto industry, is gutted. "What Trenton makes, the world takes" is a cruel joke.

       Where has it all gone? There are multiple

explanations.

• Outsourcing:  Why? Taxes: The United States has the highest corporate income tax rate in the world.  
• Regulation: We nurture armies of accountants and lawyers just to keep righteous. And there is more to come.  
• Cap and Trade programs control industrial emissions, the "Cap", and if that polluting manufacturer exceeds those mandated and arbitrary limits, it can "Trade" dollars with other companies for credits to ameliorate their plight and keep on spewing.  
• Competition from foreign producers. Did you think the world was going to stand still? Look at China.      
• Productivity increases. The US still produces 21% of what is made in the world, a share that has not changed for the past 40 years. What has declined are the number of jobs due to massive gains in American productivity. Our growth has gone into high end, high skill manufacturing processes and away from the simpler work.  

       And the latest ploy? Going Green! That is just code for more De-industrialization. Now we are told what light bulbs we can use and the 50 cent incandescent 60 watt bulb is considered extravagantly wasteful compared to the energy conscious $2.50 CFL. Just don't drop and break one of those Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs! The toxic mercury vapor escaping  may require a visit from the Haz Mat Team. Our taxes have subsidized the ethanol industry since 1970 so we can add alcohol to our gasoline to get fewer miles per gallon at a higher cost. Ethanol, in concentrations of 15% is harmful to many engines. The price of corn flakes has gone up too. And the EPA is monitoring that evil green house gas, carbon dioxide, the one we exhale that plants use.  Going green costs green. 

       Green jobs is the justification but where are they? Good question, just no good answer! 

       We are a distributor of a wide variety of construction products. Gamka's business is in equipment sales and rentals, construction chemicals, thermal and moisture protection, diamond cutting, hardware, concrete accessories and safety equipment.  We are family run and our World Headquarters is located in Edison, NJ. Gamka's truck fleet delivers all over New Jersey, Metropolitan New York and Philadelphia. To serve our outside customers, we have field account managers who call on contractors on jobs and in their offices. Inside our 60,000 square foot building we have a 2,000 sq. ft. show room where our sales counter handles walk-in customers and telephone calls. Our inventory lists more than 46,000 line items. We rent over 1,700 pieces of machinery. There are 12,000 parts in stock and our service department repairs our customers' equipment and what we sell and rent. Information on all of this and much more can be found on our website, www.gamka.com . We offer our customers application-engineered solutions to their problems.  We have established ourselves in the concrete market niche and are known by our customers as the concrete experts. If you have anything to do with concrete, from placing it to restoring it and every stage in between, Gamka can help. We have the answers.This year marks our 25th anniversary!

     As the construction industry and our customers evolve, so do we.