How America's Most Valuable Company Faded Into Irrelevance

[@HowHistoryWorks]

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[@NinaRossBusiness]

@00:02 - US Steel - my grandpa worked there for 50 years. My mother worked for Bethlehem for 25 years. They both passed away in the 1990's. Had you told them that both of these, once behemoth, companies would be gone and/or possibly owned by a foreign company, they would have never believed this.

[@thenoneckpeoplerepresentat8074]

They would have seen it coming by the 80s.

[@nssupremacy_4281]

Well you can’t change old people’s firm beliefs, just go on.

[@AlgebraicAnalysis]

80s Japan buying a giant US company would've been very believable given how incredibly rich and buy-happy they were at the time

[@CorePathway]

The shopped at Sears 😂

[@andrewadams3894]

The story I was once told was that at the end of WWII everybody's steel industry was either worn out or obliterated. The US industry had the wherewithal to rebuild and did using the then state of the art larger open hearth steel making furnaces. As Europe and Japan slowly rebuilt their industries, they were in a position to adopt the new Basic Oxygen Process steel making furnaces when the technology developed. Meanwhile, the US had enough demand that there was little competition in domestic markets. By the time Europe and Japan had export capacity, they also had superior technology and lower unit costs. The US integrated mills have been declining ever since.

[@ZombieSpliffs]

I know nothing about any of this and I'm willing to bet money that's all you need to know lol

[@johnteets2921]

They're still debating whether Bessie's plant in Bethlehem should have gone to basic oxygen.

[@dukecraig2402]

That's pretty much it, at the end of WW2 the whole rest of the world was blown up while at the same time all the industry in the US was still intact, which as far as steel production goes the US had up and running facilities that were the state of the art technology for turn of the century up to WW2, after the war while the US continued making steel that way the other industrial countries around the world which had all been blown up spent the next two decades rebuilding their steel industries, but with the latest technologies which doesn't actually mean they were making better steel, what it means is they could make steel cheaper than the US which is because the more modern techniques enabled them to make it less labor intensive. Electro furnaces were a big part of it, they enabled steel to be produced without having to take coal, which doesn't just hop up out of the ground on it's own in the first place, and baking it in large ovens to make a product called Coke (no, not everyone's favorite beverage or the king of drugs in Studio 54), only anthracitic coal burns hot enough to make steel, but it's rare and expensive, the far cheaper and more common bituminous coal has to be baked into Coke which can then be burned to make steel. I was born in 1965 and raised in a town about 50 miles south of Pittsburgh, growing up in the 70's all over the countryside around here were the remains of the old "beehive" style Coke ovens some of which were still in use in the mid 60's when I was born including a battery of them right at the bottom of the hill I grew up on, everywhere you'd find those old Coke ovens there'd naturally be railroad tracks next to them, by the 70's when I was growing up all the smaller Coke operations like that had shut down and were consolidated in much larger more efficient facilities leaving them to eventually being overrun by weeds and tree's, Hobos that rode the rails would use them as "Hobo Hotels" staying inside the brick beehive shaped ovens, all of us grew up often hearing the warning from our mothers and grandmothers "Don't play around those Coke ovens, you'll get kidnapped by the Hobo's!!!", we actually used to stand across the railroad tracks and throw rocks at them. Up until about 15 years ago there was still a large Coke battery that was still operational on the Monongahela River that made Coke for the last few mills that still used it in their process, but I'm sure it's shut down by now I haven't heard anything about it for some years now. From my childhood up until not too many years ago there were these great mountains of Coke ash all over the countryside where the old ovens were, we played in them as kids, rode sleds down them in the winter and when we got older would use them as backstops to sight in our hunting rifles every year in preparation for deer season, they've all eventually disappeared over the year's though from US Steel, who continued to own the properties they were on until not too long ago when the finally sold all them off, selling the Coke ash to all the local municipalities for 50 years to spread on the roads during winter for traction, eventually however it whittled all those mountains of it down to where they're all gone now, back in the 80's all the local towns and municipalities started a campaign to get those old beehive ovens removed citing safety concerns, I don't know why all of us grew up playing in them and no one ever did get kidnapped by Hobo's, there hasn't been any of them around since I graduated high school in 1983 anyway, they were already a part of a bygone era. But to give you an idea of how many of those beehive Coke batteries there were all across the countryside around here, when I was a kid I was told, and this was during the war when Coke batteries were all running around the clock year round, on a night when there was low cloud cover the light from the fires in all the ovens scattered across the countryside would reflect off the bottoms of the clouds and light everything up so much you could drive an automobile all around the countryside without turning it's headlights on, my community is right at the base of the Appalachian Mountains, they said at night if you went up on top of the ridge and looked across the land it looked like "Hell with it's lid off". What an incredible sight that must have been.

[@clineshaunt]

We had a mill in Portsmouth Ohio that in the 1980s, it was still basically a 1930s plant.

[@dukecraig2402]

@@clineshaunt The Portsmouth mill actually quit making steel in 1980, and although after that the part of the plant that produced steel was starting to be torn down and scrapped the coke manufacturing part of it was sold off to an outfit that continued making coke there until around 2002, that's right around the time I figure that the last of the coke batteries shut down around here, there must have been some kind of EPA regulations put in place or a loophole that existed for the coal industry from years ago that expired around 2002 that coke production couldn't survive.

[@joeyager8479]

Many large manufacturers operate the same way to this day. They resist retooling to newer methods of manufacturing to protect their capital investments. Many American industries follow this line of thinking. One reason the Allies won WWII was the destruction of the European manufacturing base. The Axis and the Allies both used these tactics. Post war the Europeans rebuilt their industial base using the latest and better technology. This didn't really show up until about 25-30 years after WWII in the 1960s-1970s. At that point it was obvious to all that the US major manufacturers were too far behind and couldn't afford to catch up. Many sucummed or sold out or purchased and rebranded foreign products to sell as "American" brands. I used to hear "why should we manufacture something out customers aren't demanding?" The issue is that a foreign manufacturer will show the "customer" something that will increase their productivity, then they'll demand it and the domestic manufacturers cannot supply in a cost effective timely manner, let alone matching the quality. I watched this happen to many American industries over my 45+ years as a machine designer. All eventually became Kodak Moments.

[@OffGridInvestor]

Including Kodak itself

[@marioornot]

I feared that you weren't going to mention my favorite consolidated iron mines: lake superior consolidated iron mines. But luckily you mentioned my favorite consolidated iron mines: lake superior consolidated iron mines.

[@ZombieSpliffs]

I visited the Lake Superior Consolidated Iron Mines and all I got was this lousy t shirt.

[@nsh1980]

They know what the people want, and the people want to hear about lake superior consolidated iron mines

[@tee2567]

Lake Superior Consolidated Iron Mines is best consolidated great-like iron mines.

[@WillieFungo]

You have great tastes it consolidated iron mines!

[@musiccitymanpresents]

I missed that, lake what?

[@eliasmckee9436]

On the subject of old American companies that keep getting bought out and reinvented, you should check out the history of the Hercules Powder Company from its humble beginnings making dynamite for the Kennecott copper mine, to the space shuttle disaster to a century later building nuclear weapons as a Northrup Grumman absorption. It’s a weird place.

[@patriciayohn6136]

A late cousin of mine John Logan was one of Hercules Powder Company's Executive Vice Presidents, which allowed him and his family to live in many places including Europe and retire at 51 years old.

[@stevewoodard527]

Japan and Europe rebuilt their steel industries after WWII with efficient modern plants while the U.S. was left with 50+ year old technology. Then there was the toxic labor/management environment after the '60s or so. Neither was mentioned in the video, but both were important. The decline of the American steel industry in the '70s and '80s was something to behold.

[@MSportsEngineering]

The first thing was definitely mentioned. Were you sleeping for part of the video?

[@robertbrouillette6767]

I worked in the commercial maritime industry with a guy from Gary, Indiana. He graduated from high school in 1964 and enlisted in the navy. He went home on leave in 68 after reenlisting and getting his reenlistment bonus. Guys he went to school with laughed at him. He told them that working in the steel mills wouldn’t last, as he had been in Japan, Korea and Hong Kong and had seen the new steel mills. Ten years later, Gary was shutting down and by 1984 was history.

[@HarithBK]

i work in a steel mill in Sweden American steel failed since they didn't keep up with raising there steel qualities so they end up fighting with brazil when they should be doing large volume of middle tier qualities of steel. this has happened since they didn't modernize. the worker reduction and raised uptimes where i work VS the US department is night and day while at the same time being able to produce unique qualities of steel that only we make. it is fair to say at this point that america is 30-40 years behind the rest of the world on there steel production line since they just stopped innovating .

[@williamallen7836]

They were doing just that. The deindustrialization of the US & politicians making it free for foreign steel to be imported are the reasons for the fall of US made steel. You just simply can not compete with companies who pay slave wages to thier "employees" Add to this that even our own government was purchasing steel from China instead of buying domestically. After a while the remaining steel producers in the US could not afford to produce specialty steels anymore.

[@adrianocs4]

I can say whith experience that steel from Brazil is really bad, so the US steel beign as bad our steel is a shock to me. We have to import some simple replacement parts for machines from europe, because the same Brazilian part has 1/5 of the lifetime, and i'm not talking about some crazy quality steel alloys, i'm talking about 1045 and 1020.

[@alexsmith-ob3lu]

Wow, thanks for sharing your experience with Brazilian steel. I never knew that Brazil produced some of its own steel. In regards to American steel being bad quality, that is an engineering and management issue. Everyone blames the blue collar workers, but America can’t even produce enough engineers in its educational system to begin with…

[@adrianocs4]

@@alexsmith-ob3lu some basic stell alloys are produced here at high quantity and a few complex ones too. But anything more complex is rare or need to be imported, or wait 3 to 6 months for a custon order. Even so quality is not a guarante.

[@johnteets2921]

Last I heard Allegheny Ludlum was still doing well in specialty steels. Building a new plant a few years ago.

[@TranscendianIntendor]

A nation does very much need to be able to maintain itself. Steel is a strategic material required for manufacturers of a wide variety of uses. A nation does not want to be dependent on other nations to survive during good times or bad.

[@musiccitymanpresents]

Or war.

[@castirondude]

Yes. The US needs to find effective ways of re-patriating key industries . I don't know the steel market very well but I know in the electronics and automotive market , the drive to make everything globally compatible has made supply chains very global. If there is a problem in any of 10-20 countries, or along the shipping lines inbetween, then your supply chain fails. I would like to see the us re-assert its domestic standards and rebuild its supply chain that way.

[@Delmworks]

In fairness, that’s a lesson learned too late for a lot of countries nowadays. But with an industry’s upkeep costs, it’s a bit much to ask them to keep them open “just in case”

[@musiccitymanpresents]

@@Delmworks The US still has basic steel production, but not on the scale that has previously existed, as well as stainless steel and other specialty steels. We should have a few mothballed basic steel plants for just in case.

[@garethbaus5471]

Fortunately Nucor is still based in the US and pretty successful.

[@Phosfit]

Can you make this video for lithium in 40 years?

[@DogmaticAtheist]

If you can tell the future. Lithium battery chemistry is not ideal. If solid state or sodium or etc. batteries take off lithium will be less relevant

[@the_expidition427]

@@DogmaticAtheist Saving this

[@unironicaluser1867]

@@DogmaticAtheist your so ignorant its crazy

[@chiquita683]

Dayumm

[@jc-wd5bu]

Japan and Germany illegally 'dumping' steel in the 70s didn't help

[@Yourmission9]

Henry Frick being Carnegie’s right hand man really catapulted him into even more success than he could imagine, but Frick was a psychopath from all accounts

[@pornstarpat]

Meet you in hell!

[@falconellirk901]

"nothing personal only business"

[@jackripper8337]

Frick was RUTHLESS! Carnegie was also able to save his image because of Frick then let him take all the fall out.

[@johnteets2921]

@@jackripper8337 I recall they spilled a ladle and melted him.

[@raristy1]

Frick had zero humanity

[@mikitz]

'We're bigger than US Steel!' - Hyman Roth, Godfather, Part II

[@JoeRogansForehead]

- Meyer Lansky, Real FBI Wiretap

[@jumpupdown2556]

This is the business they've chosen

[@JB-yb4wn]

@@jumpupdown2556 I'd give four million just to be able to take a piss without it hurting. Also Hyman Roth

[@無題6376]

Means nothing anymore...

[@z3p-w6k]

Thanks for the detailed history! I was a Field Engineer for the American Bridge Div. in the late 70s. I worked out of the Chicago office on LaSalle St. We built high rise buildings, bridges, power plants, mill buildings.

[@jannyboe9365]

Sadly this is typical for UK and US industry when local managment runs the industries. They spend their earnings on huge salaries and bonuses. In continental Europe and most of Asia they spend moneys on production efficiency instead. Its obvious when Japanese, German, Indian and even Chinese companies gets the control over UK and US companies. Then they are modernized and can begin to compete again.

[@neeljavia2965]

That applies only to few industries.

[@abdiganiaden]

They built the company with their vision, they are free to cash out This is why US is the premier industrial and innovative power, simply because places like Europe and Asia put a ceiling on reward for innovators

[@jannyboe9365]

@@abdiganiaden Sorry to dissapoint You. The only effective and competitive industry in US are the arms industry. All the rest cant cope with China or Europe. Innovators in Europe has no limits. But we think differently. We know the need for reinvesting to be competitive. Most US and UK industries spends the moneys on bonuses. They forget to reinvest. The old saying... "if it works dot fix it" goes for US and UK. On continental Europe we think "if it works how can we improve it".

[@abdiganiaden]

@@jannyboe9365 lol there’s only one Nvidia, Space X, agricultural exporter, Microsoft, Apple, and so on If the US isn’t the Information Age power, I don’t know who is then Hilarious how you talk but don’t realize US is a quarter of world GDP for decades now and has kept that share while Europe is half that now, so what decline

[@dasher787]

​@@abdiganiadengdp, especially measured in usd is useless and gives massive advantages to the U.S. because of how it's economy is organized. Use HDI or even GDP (PPP) and you'll get a much more balanced view

[@tsubadaikhan6332]

China has been selling steel below cost for about 25 years now. That doesn't help any competitor, least of all a complacent one.

[@dknowles60]

yea

[@wisdomleader85]

The more prominent problem is that China has been producing over a billion tons of steel each year. Surely that creates the problem of excessive production from an economic perspective, but that could be a huge advantage during wartime. We should ask ourselves: what can we do to compete against them?

[@johnteets2921]

Cost includes the "cost" of being priced in a reserve currency.

[@tsubadaikhan6332]

I didn't explain fully in my original post. The vast majority of China's cheap steel is sold in its own domestic market. Cheap steel and concrete has fuelled China's incredible infrastructure growth the last 25 years. There's evidence they're also selling their domestic commercial market electricity and water below cost. This adds to the reasons foreign countries cannot compete with China on manufacturing costs. It's not just cheap Labour. And while China has to purchase iron ore in US Dollars, all the value added products it sells internationally are paid for in US Dollars, more than offsetting any costs it absorbs selling the inputs cheaply. It is skewing world markets, but Chinas growth is astounding. 60% of the worlds renewable energy projects are happening inside China currently. If the end result is cheaper electricity, it may increase the cost differential they already command.

[@dknowles60]

@@tsubadaikhan6332 Over 75% of Chinas Electricity Comes from Coal today

[@LouisDillard02]

Imagine being at the helm of US Steel in its prime-like controlling the economy itself. Must have been quite the power trip.

[@glennso47]

I remember when in 1958-59 the steel industry was on strike and the whole economy collapsed. Anyone?

[@glennso47]

In the 1950s US Steel sponsored a network tv show called The USSteel Hour.

[@glennso47]

Northwestern Steel Company had a plant in Sterling Illinois. One of my uncles worked there most of his life.

[@glennso47]

Was Gary Indiana named after this Mr Gary featured in this video? Gary was a huge city for US Steel. It’s practically a ghost town now,

[@I.M.A.Panther3619]

How to expand your huge company …. buy up competitors. US Steel and every large internet/computer company. It’s so ridiculous how business people talk about the “free market” system, when every corporation ever, wants a monopoly.

[@はいたわごとを食べる]

Bingo, you just hit the nail right on the head, preach brother preach.

[@brettstephens2736]

It really is that simple, couldn't have explained it better myself

[@the_sad_wallet1553]

This is why government regulation and anti-trust is so important. Consolidation kills innovation!

[@martaamance4545]

Greatly overlooked were the environmental problems (Pittsburg had the worst air quality due to the coke ovens and steel mills) and the labor unions, in particular the Steelworkers of America. The continuing rise in labor prices and the associated labor strikes took the competitive edge off American steel. And many of the work rules tended to prohibit plant and process improvements. The fact is, both environmental regulations and labor unions kill off more business that simple incompetence. Now environment regulations, for the most part, are important (although the EPA has been under the control of non elected agency heads and their cadre) but labor unions have gotten a big boost from government and the Labor Department's interference in the affairs of business.

[@felixyusupov7299]

Nucor is the king of American steel. US Steel is a dying old man.

[@Kudeghraw]

You are correct, but US Steel was down to 5 bucks a share in 1Q 2020. Still a couple bucks left in gramps.

[@reidpinchback8850]

​​@@Kudeghrawunfortunately the technology gap now is even greater. It's less gramps, more dessicated mummy in the catacombs. As much as I understand Biden wanting to protect strategic US industry, caring about a US Steel buyout doesn't seem the smart way to go about it unless it is part of a larger strategy akin to the Chips Act to retool the local industry.

[@MisterHedgeFund]

Mgmt was bad but labor also played a part. In 1980 it took 10 man hours to produce a ton of steel in the US. Now it takes ONE man hour; mills that couldn’t handle that efficiency ramp are now gone. Understandably labor was not receptive to reducing headcount by a literal order of magnitude. So the big integrated (blast furnace) mills were too slow to adopt new (proven) technology and even when the writing was on the wall they couldn’t adapt because of labor challenges.

[@MrOhyeah21]

That wouldn't have mattered if tariffs weren't dropped in the 80s by Reagan

[@alexsmith-ob3lu]

You also have to take into account that by the 1980s, American industry could only hire a fraction of the engineers they so desperately needed to implement new technology. You can only hire x amount of blue collar workers based on how many engineers you’ve already got. This is more than just American labor unions…

[@johnwright9372]

America was hardly a workers' paradise.

[@Haibing22]

Blaming labor for the consequences of management’s decisions? Hello time traveler from the 90s. See? The last 20 years or so have shown that neoliberalism doesn’t work and it only causes wealth to go to a few hands. Shocking, I know.

[@johnteets2921]

A big factor in that was the rise of so called "mini-mills", such as Nucor and Steel Dynamics, which are recycling operations, and use much less labor.

[@N1njaSnake]

The stock market is toxic to reason. A company can either be strategic and stable or chase profit at all cost.

[@patriciayohn6136]

Husband and I are heading to Bethlehem next week for out Anniversary, looking forward to it.

[@UnipornFrumm]

This is what happens when you have 80 year olds in charge,they thibk things are how they were 60 years ago when they were 20,they are blind to the present reality

[@jerrybessetteDIY]

Reminds me of the fall of Sears and Robuck. They should have been bigger than Amazon of today if they had foresight to get their catalogs on the internet in the 1990's.

[@kosmosXcannon]

Wasn't Sears mismanaged largely because of a private equity firm that ran it into the ground to buy up their land on the cheap, while saddling it up with massive debt?

[@jerrybessetteDIY]

@@kosmosXcannon I think they speeded the downfall, but mostly we have the bureaucratic inertia of doing things a certain way and resist new ideas.

[@jameshaxby5434]

It's the Kennedy Space Center, not Space Station. And USS is a Manufacturing firm. not an Engineering firm.

[@m.a.n.m.a.g]

That’s hella observant how did you pick that up

[@_Painted]

Steel, lumber, fuel, concrete, silicon, copper, aluminum… these are the kinds of basic resources our economy is built on. The less we produce of these, the more expensive everything else becomes. It should be obvious, but it becomes cheaper to build a house for example if we have a surplus of the building materials. If we want America to be prosperous, we need to rebuild industries like steel production.

[@ssmagicman]

Maybe this video needed one more editing pass before release... At 4:45 -- "The Rise and All of Isaac Le Maire The Inventor of Short Selling"

[@eugenvessel6943]

I really appreciate your delivery of information with examples of analogies from more recent technological advancements as well as use of laymen terms. Great job and easily digestible information, I really wish someone could create a financial literacy video lectures here on youtube with presentation alike yours. Good luck to your channel!

[@SamMiller-x4f]

I was employed by United States Steel in Bucks County, Pennsylvania from 1998-2008. When I started there were 1000 employees. When I was let go there were about 85 people left. At one point this plant had about 10,000 employees. U.S.S. - Fairless Works.

[@mazzeimazgaj]

kay, I’ve always scratched my head about the obsession around the kislux book totes and their practicality, but this one is adorable!! Congratulations

[@evanpartalis3848]

As a 20 year vet of the steel industry it’s sad to see how far the whole industry has fallen. My opinion is that steel, like microprocessors, is a strategic resource. More than just an industry. US industry turned the tide in both world wars not because of the size of military at the outset but because of industrial dominance. China has shown a resolve the US has lacked to subsidize strategic industries. If we want to stay a superpower we need to stop complaining about the unfair playing field and level it ourselves by reducing spending, paying off debt, and heavily investing in those key industries. If we don’t we could see a world where the US dollar is no longer the reserve currency and which no longer favors US interests in worldwide affairs. Ultimately maybe taking a back seat and focusing on domestic issues would be better than trying to assert our will on the world stage. But I’m just a metals guy not a politician.

[@glowiedetector]

this won't happen tho, the us can't stop meddling in other countries affairs and many nations reject the usd because it imposes the rules on others and/or because of its imperialist behavior. plus more and more nations are switching to the yuan. the next superpowers will be china and india.

[@DuffyGabi]

Billy Joel. “Allentown.” Such a sad song.

[@richardscathouse]

I remember well. I was there at the time it all went down

[@timmyturner327]

See also: Bruce Springsteen's "Youngstown".

[@bearlogg7974]

Steel betrayed Pittsburgh GM betrayed Detroit Tech betrayed San Francisco Where’s the all American honor?

[@eddiepowell6274]

When shareholders changed the business model to profit NOW it put no room for r and d and any room for future internal investment

[@davidhollfelder9940]

“Everything happens very slowly until it happens all at once”

[@brettldouglas]

It was the Marshall Plan. They taxed US Steel at ridiculously high rates, then sent that money overseas to subsidize foreign steel companies. Insanity!

[@dougcrook3907]

As a union ironworker in the USA I have watched the availability of quality made USA sourced steel dwindle Youngstown Ohio made America great

[@Kudeghraw]

Remember early 2009 when China cut the value of scrap in half? I guess they have the global scrap market cornered and call the shots. I had a shop gig at the time, but there were camps of ironworkers living just outside of cities they worked in just hoping a bid would come through so they could get back to work. Many tried to come into our shop, but we had no spots open.

[@c182SkylaneRG]

Ah, "Know your audience" personified. :D Love all the tech analogies to the steel industry.

[@pratronald]

Never sell your company to Bankers!

[@grizzlygrizzle]

Or your stocks to Blackrock, Vanguard, State Street, etc.

[@johnniedean2967]

In the early eighties, then President Reagan deregulated the steel industry by lifting tariffs on imported steel. This lead to eventual collapse of our steel companies.

[@Bob-jn8gt]

Also EPA

[@djpalindrome]

Because this so-called foreign competition was illegal dumping at below their cost of production in order to drive our companies out of business and throw Americans out of work

[@BaronEvola123]

It would have never been a problem had it not been for unions. They ruined the car industry first. Cars were the biggest users of steel. This led to lack of innovation. By the late 1970's, GM was paying 70k workers to literally NOT work. This broke the back of the steel industry and all the innovations were taking place in Japan.

[@johnwright9372]

Reagan did more than anyone else to destroy US industry. He broken organised labour and enabled the export of capital and technology to the cheapest sources of production in Asia, which is why the democracies are in economic political and military trouble now.

[@MooShaka89]

If America can't compete on steel that's ok. Just get it cheaper elsewhere. It makes everything else.more expensive to artificially force americans to buy expenses just because it's made in USA.

[@Infinite160]

I appreciate the analogies you msde. Made it easier for me to understand these metalworks equipment

[@connor_flanigan]

they went on strike in the 50s. companies immediately looked for other (and cheaper) sources for steel. most of these companies never went back. that strike permanently crippled the company and they never recovered.

[@CreedK]

I think in light of recent events regarding both the pandemic and escalation of hostilities in various regions it would be a mistake to not keep US Steel fully domestic. It’s both a matter of national security and economic stability and I think both the government and economists are starting to realize that you need to strike a balance between globalization (in the name of economic efficiency) and still maintaining a relatively small domestic industry. We’ve been facing this same problem with chip manufacturing, everyone realized what a terrible idea it is to basically completely centralize it in a single country, especially one that’s basically under constant threat of invasion.

[@Canbutcant]

That puts me in rocky water, I love American steel but I also like seeing it go to good hands. I wonder how this will impact us going forward. I hope Japan treats her well.

[@marvinamann4969]

Would be interesting to know what the return for a theoretical investor would have been that did hold us Steel stock from the ipo up to today

[@johnbehneman1546]

THANK YOU SO MUCH. A TOTALLY AWSOME DOCUMENARY!!!! I LEARNED A LOT!!!!

[@joelhall3646]

Steel is a critical part of the security of a nation. It sits at an intersection that makes it very difficult to part with. In the next peer level hot war, US Steel will likely need to be nationalized to keep pace with demand. If it is sold, than Japan controls a critical peice of the US defense industry and by extension, controls US foreign policy. Selling to a foreign nation is a decision that should not be taken lightly and if such a sale was allowed, should it have significant strings attached.

[@johnteets2921]

When they're talking about Teddy Roosevelt, they show a picture of Franklin Roosevelt. I wonder if U-Tube will shadow ban this.

[@phuturephunk]

Honestly, I'd rather have Nippon acquire them than some private equity firm. Straight up.

[@geoffreylee5199]

The story of Bethlehem Steel began with the construction of the NYC WTC when they did not get that contract.

[@MichaelSimmons-ee4ib]

Just sell to Cleveland Cliffs already. Quit being butthurt about being overtaken as the biggest steel company in the US and come to terms with the fact the Pittsburgh is no longer the ‘steel city’. Cleveland is.

[@Kudeghraw]

If US Steel stock was purchased at the dip of the mini crash of 2020, the owner is very happy right now.

[@user-zx8de8op9l]

My grandfather and one of his brothers worked for US steel in the 1930's to the 1970's in Waukegan, IL

[@mymonkeyshines]

you're missing an important fact - schwab was president of carnegie steel & carnegie's protege. his expertise leaving for bethlehem was a huge shift in momentum

[@dukecraig2402]

Your history is horribly wrong about something, American Bridge was never headquartered in the Empire State Building, they built the Empire State Building, and by the time they'd done it they were already a part of USS, were headquartered in Coraopolis Pa with their fabrication shop right next door in Ambridge Pa, a town built around their fabrication shop and whose name is a contraction of American Bridge, and had also built the Chrysler Building at the same time. AB had existed since about the 1860's as I recall from their history, their first big job was the Eads Bridge in St Louis, I'm pretty sure it was originally headquartered in New York state originally but not in NYC, some town in the state quite a few miles from it, it became a part of USS in 1902 one year after USS was formed, it was already a part of USS and had moved it's headquarters to Coraopolis Pa (just down the Ohio River about 2 miles from Pittsburgh) and wasn't headquartered with the rest in NYC which is where USS had their headquarters at first, it was already headquartered in Coraopolis well before the Empire State Building was built which was between 1929 and 1931. USS was originally headquartered in the Empire Building in NYC when it was formed not the Empire State Building as it hadn't been built yet, the Empire Building and the Empire State Building are not the same one, USS would eventually build the US Steel Building in Pittsburgh between 1967 and 1970 and move their headquarters there where it has remained since. The Empire Building in NYC was built between 1895 and 1898, I doubt it was put up by AB since as far as I can tell AB never erected buildings before USS owned them, prior to that as far as I know they only designed and built bridges, however once they were a part of USS they became their ironworking division and put up every building and bridge that USS got the contract for, these include; The Empire State Building and The Chrysler Building at the same time (nobody else in the world before or since could build the two tallest buildings in the world simultaneously), The Oakland Bay Bridge, The George Washington Bridge, The New River Gorge Bridge (Longest single arc span bridge in the world upon completion and for many years after and is still the longest in the western hemisphere), The US Steel Building, The Pentagon, The launch gantry's for the Gemini and Apollo rockets and Vehicle Assembly Building at the Cape in Florida, The Verrazzano Narrows Bridge, The Mackinac Bridge (The Mighty Mac) connecting lower Michigan to it's upper peninsula at the Mackinac Straights, The Sunshine Skyway Bridge in Tampa Bay Florida, The Sears Tower in Chicago, The John Hancock Building in Chicago, The Houston Astrodome and countless other iconic bridges and building's around the world. AB was sold off by USS in 1986 and is still in business and still has their headquarters in Coraopolis Pa, although they don't do steel fabrication anymore and their old fabrication shop in Ambridge, which is where all the steel was cut, bent, drilled and formed during the fabrication process for all those iconic structures from steel that was made in USS's mills right up the river in Pittsburgh and their other mills throughout southwestern Pa, was sold years back and is now a shipping warehouse for a trucking company, but between 1902 and 1986 when American Bridge was United States Steel's ironworking division it was a dynasty the likes of which the world will never see again, they built more record holding tallest buildings, longest and highest bridges than anyone else in the history of the world, including of course the greatest building of all time and the longest holder of the title of tallest building in the world, a record that stood for 40 years, the Empire State Building. Very sincerely from a proud ex union ironworker and one who worked out of Ironworkers Local #3 in Pittsburgh Pa.

[@cappybenton]

Really interesting. Maybe do videos about how TWA went bust, Kodak is a shadow of its former self and Intel is on the ropes.

[@neilpuckett359]

TWA went under because of deregulation in 1980. And they weren't alone.

[@davidcrenshaw2802]

I work in a foundry. We use recycled metal to make high value parts for the military and oil industries. Our furnaces are induction, I've never even seen a coal or gas fired one.

[@casparcoaster1936]

Lets hope Toyota will buy GM & Ford

[@richardscathouse]

As opposed to doing nothing and letting them fall on their faces.😂😂😂

[@shrekdaddy6912]

I live in Pittsburgh. It's sad to see.

[@bigedslobotomy]

Interestingly enough, I think we may be seeing the same thing in pharmaceutical corporations. There is BIG money in pharmaceuticals (especially cancer treatment), but little incentive to keep prices down. Some have said that there is little incentive for them to produce a cancer cure, because there is so much money to be made in cancer treatment. Imagine what would happen if a foreign pharmaceutical corporation came up with a cheap, effective cancer CURE? They could still price it to make money, but still undercut the current pharmaceutical giants. They could fade away as quickly as Bethlehem Steel did, when it didn’t modernize like European and Japanese steel mills did.

[@glennso47]

Is Charles Schwab related to the guy who is the head of the WEF? “You’ll own nothing and you’ll be happy “?

[@catatonicbug7522]

I'm usually a fan of globalization, but in recent years, the idea of either reviving or developing US manufacturing industries has become increasingly important. Let's modernize and rebuild the US manufacturing sector.

[@Crocodile2873]

I’m surprised there was no mention of the cliffs deal. Part of the hold up is the union is pushing hard against a foreign acquisition. Cliffs also made an offer which was viewed as more favorable by the union

[@mcarrusa]

Hyman Roth, where you at? If you love all things steel, check out the song “Bethlehem Steel,” by Grant Lee Buffalo.

[@Kudeghraw]

Hyman. You just know that person got messed with as a kid.

[@abigailvaughan8558]

US Steel needs to be sold to Nippon Steel if it wants to survive, and if American jobs want to be kept. US Steel isn’t what it once was. With Nippon's guarantees of jobs and plants preservation + industry investment, I think it will do America far more good than bad.

[@sharonfieber6458]

Nappon steel made large jump in Japan steel 1970's quality. USSR academy of science licensed Nippon Steel technology early 1980's, Communist Party management prevented Soviet steel mills from installing Nappon process!

[@johnteets2921]

Nippon.....................? 😇

[@charlesjohnson5520]

Nippon steel keeps sending me letters to contact my reps to allow the merge but ngl id rather it be gone then japanese. Cleveland cliffs is already taking over around here anyways so im not very worried about SE Michigan rn

[@DanaClarke]

All of these comparisons make this video sound like it was written by chatGPT

[@richardscathouse]

Likely was, 😂😂😂

[@JoelReid]

"Convict leasing"... yeah, that sounds like a nice name for what an entire civil war had been fought over.

[@pedritodio1406]

US Steel should add Rails to its name for it to become superior. So now it will be USSR

[@TheDavidlloydjones]

At 2:04, uh, no, the Bessemer converter was not for "improving impurities," cheaply or at any cost. *Removing* impurities is one rather crude way of putting it... But I'm supposing that KZbin producers have some sort of responsibility to listen to teir bumph and editout the errors. Silly me...

[@raymondcaylor6292]

All I know is my X stock is up 186% since I placed it in my IRA including dividend reinvestment. If it does sell it'll top 300% gain. Even my BRK.B is only up 167% but besides 2 regional bank stocks BRK.B is all I add now. When Mr. Buffett passes I expect a dip and I'm prepared to sell everything ( except 10K emergency fund in my money market Fidelity account) I own and be 100% in BRK.B. There's so much meat on the bone at BRK buying 30 days after that event will produce 350-400 % gain within 5 year's. I hope I'm around to see it. Without a doubt BRK is the best investment you can make in retirement accounts.

[@ecocodex4431]

14:18 "Good times create weak men" Oh, hogswash! I hate that saying! Hard times have only ever created broken men, PTSD, severe depression, anxiety, and suicidality. If NOT swinging neck first from a chandelier or NOT choking your wife in her sleep due to a PTSD nightmare, is considered "weak" then the issue is the definition, not the person.

[@JackOHaraEngineering]

I don’t disagree, but man it really does seem that the ones who break in a certain way really do push things forward. I wonder honestly if saying that good times create weak times is a better way of putting it. Why worry and push hard when times are good?

[@aitoluxd]

What periods create weak men and strong men?

[@VinceroAlpha]

You can't be that simple, it's a phrase that is CONTEXTUAL! It's not meant to be applied to every situation verbatum! You have to take context and other variables into account. Seriously think before you talk smack.

[@stereo-soulsoundsystem5070]

Human spirit and the desire to improve and thrive exist in even the easiest times. As a mayter of fact often when times are easy, certain people will use that easiness of life and labor to crush competition.

[@lost_to_the_woods]

Found the weak man 😂

[@apollo4619]

Tbh just federalize US Steel. It’s a key resource in the American logistics chain and the federal government can federalize it.

[@alexsmith-ob3lu]

Not with America declining technical excellence.

[@CuriousCrow-mp4cx]

Nationalisation will not help an industry that fails to innovate and falls behind it's rivals. And whose capitalists gave up and offshored jobs instead of competing. Sadly, we live in an era where profit is the priority instead of people, and your economy has been shaped by that thinking, which is unsystemic and short-termist. America had a unique advantage after World War 2, but had conflicting priorities. The Pax Americana had to become an economic global empire. In spreading the reach of the US Dollar, it also created the opportunity for rivals to recover and eventually compete with it. That was something they didn't foresee. They had to make USD King, because everyone would need USD, and imports would be cheaper, but that also had a price. To provide all the USD the world needed, America had to increase it's foreign imports. Cheap imports meant that domestic firms couldn't compete and stopped innovating. Instead they began focusing on cutting costs, and cutting capital investment, and executives were rewarded for paying dividends, rather than expanding their capital investment. This would become a downward driver of America industry. So it was the conflicting goals and short-termist thinking of those who ran the American economy which created the shift from a mixed economy, to one dominated by services rather than manufacturing.

[@alexsmith-ob3lu]

@@CuriousCrow-mp4cx That is an excellent comment!!

[@CharlesBrown-xq5ug]

I'm trying to release free-to-the-world plausible hope that civilization can quit the second law of thermodynamics. The second law is behind modern refgeration needing electrical energy to compress the refrigerent to force it to release as waste the heat that it has removed from the refrigerator's service interior in the cooling part of the refrigerent's circulation. There is also discarded heat from mechanical friction. Refrigeration by the principle that energy is conserved should produce electricity instead of consuming it. It makes more sense that refrigerators should yield electricity because energy is widely known to change form with no ultimate path of energy gain or loss being found. Therefore any form of fully recyclable energy can be cycled endlessly in any quantity. In an extreme case senario full heat recycling all electric very isolated underground communities would be highly survivable with self sufficient EMP resistant LED light banks, automated vertical farms, thaw resistant frozen food storehouses, factories, dwellings, and self contained elevators and horizontal transports. In a flourishing civillization senario small self sufficient electric or cooling devices of many kinds and styles like lamps smartphones, hotplates, water heaters, cooler chests, fans, radios, TVs, cameras, security devices. power hand tools, pumps, and personal transports, would be available for immediate use anywhere as people see fit. Larger equipment would be built for enterprise use. If a high majority thinks our civilization should geoengineer gigatons or teratons of carbon dioxide out of our etnvironment, instalations using devices that convert ambient heat into electricity can hypothetically be scaled up do it with a choice of comsequences including many beneficial ones. Computers that consume electricity and yield heat would complement energy sensible refrigerators that absorb heat and yield electricity. Computing would be free. A simple rectifier crystal can, iust short of a replicatable long term demonstration of a powerful prototype, almost certainly filter the random thermal motion of electrons or discrete positiive charged voids called holes so the electric current flowing in one direction predominates. At low system voltage a filtrate of one polarity predominates only a little but there is always usable electrical power derived from the source, which is Johnson Nyquest thermal electrical noise. This net electrical filtrate can be aggregated in a group of separate diodes in consistent alignment parallel creating widely scalable electrical power. The maximum energy is converted from ambient heat to productive electricity when the electrical load is matched to the array impeadence. Matched impeadence output (watts) is k (Boltzman's constant ~1.38^-23), times T (tempeature Kelvin) times bandwidth (0 Hz to a natural limit ~2 THz @ 290 K) times rectification halving and nanowatt power level rectification efficiency times the number of diodes in the array. For reference, there are a billion cells of 1000 square nanometer area each per square millimeter, 100 billion per square centimeter. Order is imposed on the random thermal motion of electrons by the structual orderlyness of a diode array made of diodes made within a slab: v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v v All the P type semiconductor anodes abut a metal conductive plane deposited on the top face of the slab with nonrectifying joins; all the N type semiconductor cathodes abut the bottom face. As the polarity filtered electrical energy is exported, the amount of thermal energy in the group of diodes decreases. This group cooling will draw heat in from the surrounding ambient heat at a rate depending on the filtering rate and thermal resistance between the group and ambient gas, liquid, or solid warmer than absolute zero. There is a lot of ambient heat on our planet, more in equatorial dry desert summer days and less in polar desert winter nights. Focusing on explaining the electronic behavior of one composition of simple diode, a near flawless crystal of silicon is modified by implanting a small amount of phosphorus (N type)on one side from a ohmic contact end to a junction where the additive is suddenly and completely changed to boron (P type) with minimal disturbance of the crystal pattern. The crystal then continues to another ohmic contact. A region of high electrical resistance forms at the junction in this type of diode when the phosphorous near the ĵunction donates electrons that are free to move elsewhere while leaving phosphorus ions held in the crystal while the boron ions donate holes which are similalarly free to move. The two types of mobile charges mutually clear each other away near the junction leaving little electrical conductivity. An equlibrium width of this region is settled between the phosphorus, boron, electrons, and holes. Thermal noise is beyond steady state equlibrium. Thermal noise transients, where mobile electrons move from the phosphorus added side to the boron added side ride transient extra conductivity so the forward moving electrons are preferentally filtered into the external circuit. Electrons are units of electric current. They lose their thermal energy of motion and gain electromotive force, another name for voltage, as they transition between the junction and the array electrical tap. Inside the diode, heat is absorbed: outside the diode, an attached electrical circuit is energized. Understanding diodes is one way to become convinced that Johnson Nyquest thermal electrical noise can be rectified and aggregated. Development teams will find other ways to accomplish this wide mission. Taxonomically there should be many ways ways to convert heat directly into electricity. A practical device may use an array of Au needles in a SiO2 matrix abutting N type GaAs. These were made in the 1970s when registration technology was poor so it was easier to fabricate arrays and select one diode than just make one diode. There are other plausible breeches of the second law of thermodynamics. I hope a lot of people will join in expanding the breech. Please share the results of progress or setbacks. These devices would probably become segmented commodities sold with minimal margin over supply cost. They would be manufactured by advanced automation that does not need financial incentive. Applicable best practices would be adopted. Business details would be open public knowledge. Associated people should move as negotiated and freely and honestly talk. Commerce would be a unified conglomerate of planetary scale of diverse local cooperatives. There is no need of wealth extracting top commanders. We do not need often token philanthropy from the top if the wide majority of people can afford to be generous. Aloha Charles M Brown Kilauea Kauai Hawaii 96754

[@Magicworldservices]

I was involved in two green mini mill start ups in the US

[@fleecejohnsonn]

Japan does a lot of things right. It would be so great for America to use Japanese services and companies more here.

[@Thunderrolls87]

Screw that. We are not Japan

[@Sarchein]

@@Thunderrolls87unfortunately US Steel fell behind

[@cpufreak101]

I currently work for USS, the deal has us all concerned as nobody really knows their ultimate plan

[@Thunderrolls87]

@@cpufreak101 I would be very concerned if i was you also. Personally i think it BS that a foreign company was able to buy USS especially since it could be a war time issue again in the future.

[@cpufreak101]

@@Thunderrolls87 the deal isn't completed yet, both our union and the government seem to so far be fighting against it, but it's still quite possible to happen

[@BalzarRitchin]

We were undermined by multinationals as we transferred our technological and manufacturing knowledge and skills overseas. Some very rich men got richer and lots of good people lost their jobs and careers. Bankers win again.

[@skivvywaver]

In 1959 the United Steelworkers Union went on strike to block automation. Blocking what might have saved most their jobs. While our mills were shut down because of the strike our industries turned to Japan for steel. They found that they could import steel cheaper than we can make it here and that was the beginning of the end. Funny how the union went on strike to prevent losing a few jobs to automation and inadvertently destroyed the industry.

[@CarlosPorter]

You lost me at "Kennedy Space Station."

[@daniel_buckes4564]

Great video! It's important to keep in mind that today's industry isn't producing the same as it did during the industrial revolution. Time for change to compete on this global level.

[@CookyMonzta]

19:17 AYE! 👍

[@Comm0ut]

The US could use Japanese management. W. Edwards Deming is a hero in Japan but ignored in his home country. US "quality" manufacturing still exists but not outside weapons manufacture and aerospace companies like SpaceX. Our formerly amazing aviation industry is being murdered by the MBA class who are destroying Boeing. Nothing will be done so plan wisely including not living in vulnerable communities no matter how attractive.

[@JS-jh4cy]

Bad management, i believe,?

[@dillonhillier]

When you don't know the difference between consumption and production, I question everything else you're saying.

[@djpalindrome]

Your sneering script fails to mention that this so-called “foreign competition” was illegal dumping at below their cost of production in order to drive our companies out of business

[@johnsmith-ol9qj]

That’s not illegal, selling lower than your competition is the basics of business. It’s on you to adapt or hold to your guns, that’s what lassiez faire capitalism is.

[@djpalindrome]

@@johnsmith-ol9qj Like hell it isn’t. Dumping below the cost of production is predatory pricing. Try looking up the Agreement on Implementation of Article VI of the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade

[@abrogard]

The US complains about the rest of the world selling below the US cost of production is the point. Nice work if you can get it. Means nobody sell cheaper than we do. 'Rules based order'. 'We make the rules and give the orders'

[@hubertwalters4300]

​@@abrogardDumping,as I understand it means they are dumping steel, products or whatever at a price that is less than what it cost them to produce it,there government subsidizes the difference so that industry doesn't go bankrupt.

[@abrogard142]

@@hubertwalters4300 Yes. The point I try to make is the uncertainty as to 'cost of production'. It is notion. Not a fact. If my family makes small fireworks by having the whole family sit endless hours doing it by hand and then sells them for whatever we can get - what was our cost of production? Have we 'dumped' ? It cost us the whole family's labour and freedom for endless hours. Cost us minimal in materials. So at the same time we can 'afford' to say our cost of production was virtually nil and sell for whatever we can get that covers the material cost and still have it claimed about us that our cost of production was 'total family members' x 'hours of work' divided by number of units. Which would raise the cost of production enormously. At our local 'rate per hour' for unskilled labour. If we were to use for a measure the cost of labour in YOUR country we'd then have an apparent cost that was astronomical. In the sum, if we look at a nation as that 'family' we have such a thing happening. These are attitudes, concepts, principles, not 'facts'.

[@Thunderrolls87]

Never should have been allowed to be sold to a foreign buyer. What a joke the US has become

[@John-cc9my]

Cheap imports ruined them

[@brandonna5350]

And maybe lack of investment into there stock so they cant expand as quick unlike tesla and even Elon cant keep up with BYD China ev and you cant even say China ev are trash tesla buys batteries from them there ev start at 9700 and 30000 for a luxury one us government has 100% tariff on them because they would destroy American car company's. Seems recently there's more investment into u s steel since they've got buyout offers and there trying to expand but probably need money without competition there's lack for innovation to make things cheaper and expand

[@irokpe6977]

Is more like being complacent ruined them. If they have remained innovative and always changing their style.for better technology they would have remained champions.

[@TheWizardGamez]

Tarrifs ruined them. They failed to improvise, adapt, and overcome. Also, environmental laws that made it much cheaper to just import scrap steel and ingots from outside the US. They didn’t fall from grace in the integrated plant. But the price there for completely domestic steel got burnt by smaller electric arc mills and foreign makers who had access to better/cheaper iron and coal. First it was japan who had to innovate after WW2. Now it’s China and arguably China can be seen as dumping product. But there’s been no actual policy agenda to combat and discourage state owned companies, with instead there just being a wholesale tariff on China/the world

[@chetanjilhewar1669]

Has nothing to do of being cheap. It has something to do with competition with multi national companies to be innovative.

[@tsubadaikhan6332]

@@TheWizardGamez China is cheating big time selling steel and concrete below cost. They've been doing that for over 25 years, fuelling their booming Manufacturing and the Infrastructure behind it. But I'm yet to see any Government around the world come up with an effective strategy against it. I'm also suspect that China even goes so far as selling electricity below cost to its manufacturing sector increasing their competitiveness. I'm Australian. We're getting rich selling China raw materials like iron ore and lithium, but the Math doesn't add up to the sale price internally, - even if you ignore Labour costs. China is playing a hell of a game at the moment. You can't argue it's working for them. You should see their cities growth. It's staggering from where they were 30 years ago.

[@creativemindplay]

CarNEgie. Not CARnegie❤.

[@alexgrabner116]

"Let's do slavery" as brilliant or outside the box thinking is pretty gross, my dude.

[@maximelarocque2708]

Ooooh !!! the steel puns

[@KageNoTenshi]

American, force other countries to sell their companies to American businesses Also America, sell their companies to Japan hahaha

[@JoseFernandez-qt8hm]

120 years of politicians saving the world and not their country.....

[@shawndrumm3090]

Didn't they supply the Nazis with the steel for their railroads that go to the concentration labour camp?

[@RossoCarne]

The Carnegie pronunciation is killing me

[@TheBigExclusive]

Short answer: After WW2, every other countries' steel industries were in ruins. This gave America a huge advance for 10 to 20 years. But America sent foreign aid to help rebuild other countries' after WW2. Other countries used this to rebuild their own steel industries and do it cheaper than America by using newer steel making technologies. Instead of innovating and keeping up, American companies saw that they could just order cheap steel from overseas foreign companies. So they shipped jobs overseas and ordered steel from foreign companies to save money. Then the US steel industry collapsed.

[@Bob-jn8gt]

A combination of bad management, bad government, bad unions, and bad environmental policies. Tariffs will not fix anything.

[@richardscathouse]

Shhh, don't let Trump hear that! 😂😂😂😂😂😂

[@johnteets2921]

@@richardscathouse Don't want him competing with the Democrats to ruin the country ?

[@patinpalero]

When your business is wall Street not steel

[@geoffreylee5199]

… though born in Scotland … sheesh to those copywriters …