[friend_and_foe]

Of course there are people that make stuff. There are VW factories, there are natural gas wells, there is a baker just down the road selling bread. But the author is using an anecdote to make a point: America is about making stuff. Most people in the US make things. We have government bureaucrats and university professors and data entry people, but a larger portion of our population creates things, it's a part of our culture to be creative, it's no longer really like that in Europe with a few exceptions (the Netherlands for example exports a ton of food) and you see that when you look at aggregate imports vs exports.

[rickydroll]

In the US, I'd say some people make things. The rent seekers of wall street try to covert every made thing into a rented thing you never own. Renting discourages maker curiosity and leads people to the comfortable trap of providerism.

[earthnail]

Germany exports an absurd amount of goods. However, many of the goods exported are from older technology value chains - cars for example. It’s dangerous for an exporting country to not be exporting in an entire crucial sector of modern tech: computers.

[Jensson]

> but a larger portion of our population creates things

Any data supporting this? USA still runs a trade deficit against Europe.