A new steel age

A  new steel age:

America is on the cusp of a new steel age. Now, it needs customers.

Steel companies are building new plants that will add millions of tons of the industrial metal to the US market. The plans represent the largest build-out of steelmaking capacity in decades and it Is happening in an industry that has long struggled to compete against low-priced imports.

“A strong steel industry is not just a matter of dignity or prosperity and pride. It is above all a matter of national security.” President Trump told an audience at a US Steel plant in May.

Steelmaking is core to Trump’s vision of a new US industrial economy that uses tariffs on imports to strong-arm manufacturers to buy more American made products. The US now has the world’s highest prices for steel, helped by the president’s implementing tariffs on imported steel starting in 2018. Trump extended the tariffs to imports this year, then doubled the rate…Steel demand has shrunk from a decade ago. Shipments last year were flat from 2015 levels, but imports accounted for a smaller share of the overall US steel market, according to the American Iron and Steel Institute (AISI)…

Domestic steelmakers haven’t supplied all the steel purchased in the American market. At least one-fifth (20%) of all steel used in the US has typically come from imports. Most large US steelmakers have been willing to cede some sales of commodity-grade steel to foreign producers to avoid overproducing and then selling metal at a loss.” WSJ

Durable goods orders is the first unambiguously positive development in months for the manufacturing sector

Despite a headline decline in July, durable goods orders is the first unambiguously positive development in months for the manufacturing sector. After accounting for pullbacks in aircraft and defense spending, there were broad based gains in orders.

Consumer confidence remained range-bound in August at levels not typically associated with robust spending, but not linked with sharp pullbacks either. The trend descent in consumers’ assessment of the present situation goes hand in hand with the cooling labor market.

Manufacturing activity remained soft in August

The Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond released its Fifth District Survey of Manufacturing Activity results and reports manufacturing activity remained soft in August. The composite manufacturing index rose to -7 in August from -20 in July, remaining in negative territory. All three of its component indexes increased in August but remained negative.

US raw steel production up from previous week

In the week ending August 23, 2025, US raw steel production was 1,780,000 net tons at an ACUR of 78.6 percent, up 0.3 percent from the previous week ending August 16, 2025.
Adjusted YTD production was 57,700,000 net tons thru August 23, 2025, at an ACUR of 76.6 percent.

Texas factory activity continued to expand in August

The Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas released its Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey results and reports Texas factory activity continued to expand in August, according to business executives responding to the survey. The production index, a key measure of state manufacturing conditions, came in at 15.3, down from July’s 21.3 but still well above average. Other measures of manufacturing activity also indicated solid growth this month.

Perceptions of broader business conditions remained largely unchanged, and outlooks improved slightly.

CFNAI decreased

The Chicago Fed National Activity Index (CFNAI) decreased to -0.19 in July from -0.18 in June. The index’ s three-month moving average , CFNAI-MA3, increased to -0.18 in July from -0.26 in June.

US drill rigs running down from previous week

There were 538 drill rigs running in the US on 8/22/25, down one rig from the previous week, down forty-seven rigs from one year ago. Canadian drillers reduced their rig count by three, to 180, down three rigs from the previous week, down thirty-nine from one year ago.

Real gross domestic product increased at an annual rate of 3.3 percent

According to the US Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) the second of three quarterly estimates of 2^nd quarter (April, May, June) GDP was released, and real gross domestic product increased at an annual rate of 3.3 percent. In the first quarter, real GDP decreased 0.5 percent. The increase in second quarter GDP primarily reflected a decrease in imports, which are a subtraction in the GDP calculation, and an increase in consumer spending.

The Chicago Business Barometer August index declined to 41.5 in August from 47.1 in June

The Chicago Business Barometer for August was released and the index declined to 41.5 in August from 47.1 in June. Expectations were higher. New orders fell, production declined, order backlogs fell, prices paid fell and supplier deliveries rose.

News Headlines

Two children were murdered and seventeen others (fourteen were children) wounded in a shooting at a Catholic church in Minnesota on Wednesday. Details to follow as they become known. Tim Walz is the governor and he is pro everything I list below, and then some.

The shooter, a transgender freak, has been identified as 23 year-old Robin Westman. The crime is being investigated as an act of domestic terrorism. Of course, the anti-gun lobby will blame the gun, not the mental illness of the shooter, who, in a brazen act of cowardice, shot himself, saving the taxpayers quite a bit of money.

Though it has been twelve or thirteen days now since there was a murder victim in Washington, DC the president had sent in the National guard to clean up the streets and rid our capital of rampant crime. It appears to be working. If you ask citizens, I would suspect their response would be one of relief, and joy. However, the Democratic party is calling the president a dictator, he is far from any charge they levy at him. Why are they against ridding the city of crime? Why? Because Donald J. Trump is the vehicle by which the city is becoming safe again. The president is now aiming at Chicago, and Chicago needs his help. I love Chicago, we store a lot of steel there, but I refuse to visit. What a shame for such a wonderful city. The mayor, Brandon Johnson, is a complete idiot. He says ”arresting violent criminals DOES NOT reduce crime.” Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

I am totally perplexed by “democrat,” or progressive thinking, to wit:
They promote open borders
They promote defunding the police
They promote freeing criminals
The promote illegals voting
They promote DEI
They promote “woke” ideologies
They promote transgenderism
The promote butchering child genitalia
They promote socialism
They promote racism
They promote violence and chaos in our cities
They promote mediocrity in lieu of meritocracy
I could go on, but it tires me…

On another note, regarding the so-called “democrats,” consider this:

President Trump has more than 1,000 senior-level appointments that require Senate confirmation. Under a radical democratic resistance strategy, the Senate has so far confirmed only 135. Confirming even the most routine nominees is now a bitter fight. It is time to change Senate confirmation rules.

The blockade’s scale is staggering. Democrats have forced multiple roll-call votes on more than 40 nominees for posts never subject to a single one. These confirmations used to take seconds. Now, each can take days.

Today, 145 qualified nominees already approved by committees await full Senate approval. Nearly half these nominees earned bipartisan support in committee, and many have been waiting for months. Yet all are trapped in Senate procedural purgatory. Critical jobs remain unfilled…positions that carry out constitutional duties as well as those tied to US economic and diplomatic priorities are vacant.

The American people elected President Trump and Republicans with a directive to get the US back on track. They did not vote for democratic delay and obstruction.” Excerpts from an editorial in the 8/27 WSJ by John Barrasso  (R) Wyoming, Senate majority Whip

As we approach the last holiday weekend of the summer of 2025, I want to wish everyone who labors, at whatever occupation, a healthy and peaceful LABOR DAY WEEKEND

MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN

“KEEP AMERICA GREAT”

Have a great weekend…. God bless America!

Buy American made products whenever you can, it’s good for you, good for your friends and neighbors and good for our country.

If you are hiring…try to hire a veteran…. they are loyal, disciplined, hardworking…and they deserve our support.

By the way, if you wish to comment on my rants or offer any other insights you may have, you are encouraged to email me.

TEDDY ROOSEVELT ON IMMIGRANTS IN AMERICA…1907

In the first place, we should insist that if the immigrant who comes here in good faith becomes an American and assimilates himself to us, he shall be treated on an exact equality with everyone else for it is an outrage to discriminate against any such man because of creed, or birthplace, or origin. But this is predicated upon the person’s becoming in every facet an American and nothing but an American. There can be no divided allegiance here. Any man who says he is an American, but something else also, isn’t an American at all. We have room for but one flag, the American flag…We have room for but one language here and that is the English language…and we have room for but one sole loyalty and that is a loyalty to the American people.”