Companies close up shop

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First of four parts

GREENEVILLE, Tenn. -- Lacy Michael Brown works at a color television manufacturing plant that as recently as 1989 employed 3,500 workers toiling over three shifts.

Now, fewer than 100 employees are left on a single shift at the last domestically owned TV maker in the U.S.

"You just walk into that plant and see it empty. We used to work elbow to elbow building TVs, and now what do you see?" said Mr. Brown, referring to a chilly, 1 million-square-foot facility that stands largely idle, with most overhead lights and floor machinery switched off, the parking lot all but empty.

"It's a shame this country is coming to this," said the 60-year-old warehouseman.

For Mr. Brown, "this" is the deterioration of American manufacturing and the loss of manufacturing jobs, coupled with steadily rising purchases of foreign-made goods.

U.S. manufacturers in 2005 set production records, but consumers and companies bought more imports than ever. Foreign goods account for about one-third of the manufactured products consumed domestically, compared with about one-quarter in 1992 and 15 percent in 1982.

The shift has led to the decline of companies once synonymous with American industrial might, as well as heavy job losses across entire sectors that struggle to compete with imports.

"What is worrisome about that is the U.S. standard of living. I think it is very difficult to envision our standard of living being preserved if we're in an economy where all people do is flip hamburgers, wait on people in stores and sue each other. It's not much of a basis for an economy," said Wilbur Ross, chief executive of WL Ross & Co., the global investment firm that has acquired and merged faltering textile, steel and coal companies.