The four of us here have worked on hundreds of brownfield sites like the one you pictured at the top.
Not sure what's worse. That image and what it represents, or "the irony" at the end.
In between the incredible, relentless innovation and job creation and the current irony, many dignified American middle class lives were built.
It seems as though what industrial might the U.S. still maintains revolves around energy. Not just its production and distribution directly, but what abundant, affordable, reliable energy does to attract large capital investment in certain industries.
China realized early (whether intentionally or unintentionally) that energy is key to a strong economy. Cheap power for consumers and industry can drive a lot of growth. I wonder how much of the anti-growth green speak was funded by them wanting it all?
An excellent and well written history. I have been a fan of George Westinghouse, one of the greatest power engineers ever, my entire life. Also interested in the history of power generation. This is outstanding and I will save for reference. Thank you!
Yes although in theory GE bought RCA not just NBC(which had been owned and founded by RCA since the beginning). RCA was an engineering/communications equipment company that owned a broadcast network, NBC to sell TVs and other electronics. Welch however, very quickly sold all of RCA's industrial assets(communications satellites, etc.) after buying RCA only keeping NBC. People might associate RCA with NBC present day but the communications bus used by GPS satellites to the present day is based on an RCA design.
Well-told story. I knew the middle part but not the endgame. Incidentally, the very first invention continued on its own as Westinghouse Air Brake, WABCO. Much later in the 1960s they branched into oil drilling equipment, the second invention, then finally collapsed in the usual way.
I began my engineering career with Westinghouse Combustion Turbine Systems Division in 1980. The only inaccuracy in the article is there was no sudden "downturn in electricity demand" at that time. But there definitely was a downturn in orders for new grid capacity that coincided with nationwide breakup of utilities, and privatization, which saw generation and transmission infrastructure steadily decline from that point on. All of a piece with the deindustrialization of the country.
Really nice job on the historical essay. I only got to work for W turbine for two years before SHTF and the breakup started. I get more wistful over those two great years at Circle W than I do over that beautiful girl who I thought was "the one" at the time.
What a fascinating history & excellent articulation of it.
This story reminds me of the failure of the Instant Pot (Insta-pot), which on a much smaller scale, failed to financialize it's product & was doomed to survive in our advanced (late stage) capitalism, though creating a perfect product: one that does not need to be replaced, minimal repairs, & fulfilled an important need for consumers.
The lessons from these stories are a shame to consider, encouraging a type of degradation in corporate leadership & community values.
It makes me continually re-consider the philosophical underpinnings of our economy & society, where rent-seeking (rentier capitalism) is encouraged, & why planned obsolescence is rewarded ... CEOs are only judged by their growth, which requires them to behave with no regard for morality or ethics, & over time, such virtues seemingly grow archaic, & perhaps (i'm afraid) will eventually become defunct. I am stunned by today's increasing stock valuations created by hollowing out workers & automating displaced positions. It seems to portend a future of inevitable universal selfishness
... once we arrive, few will ask:
What have we done?
How did we squander a seemingly perfect opportunity to be equitable?
It will be difficult to answer by even the most discerning, but surely (as proven in this wonderful portrait of Westinghouse) a very long time coming.
Description of surface events that reverses the driving trends, different from the exploration of corporate org knowledge change in economic domains that often is posted in decouple, and this obscuring pushes thinking back toward keynesian large state as remedy, when in fact it is the cause.
Underneath the surface description of 'deindustrialization' is obsolescence of manufacturing domain in America, Europe and Japan which has directly resulted from lack of investment to modernize and automate manufacturing. China has the most automation in the world and no country will return to machine tending manufacture.
Underneath the surface description of 'financialization' is the cost burden of externalities that make investment in domestic domains other than advancing intelligent software systems unaffordable. Capital and market signal are messengers about a situation, not causes bringing it about, financialization isnt wrong or rent, it is reporting the actual costs. It's a vital signal for the externalities, the non commercial domains such as infrastructure and commercial policy whose position does not facilitate feedback from sales, commercial return, and state capacity must read the signals as part of broader quantitative mechanisms. The advanced countries face a revolution in state capacity made necessary by rushing automation, developing professional higher precision bodies that can forecast and equip finance capital and production capital. Only capital has the forms to explore, test, iterate and develop comparative advantage as it shifts with rising local and global productivity, and only a nimble state capacity can remove the cost barriers through infrastructure and commercial strategy/environment - which open the way to balancing automation across domains and reengineering western offering for emerging demand.
Some in the west learn exactly the wrong lesson from China because it conforms to keynesian paradigm - the illumination for us is not the relative legal prerogatives of state agencies and assets (this aspect is provisional and risky), it is the uber competition and central orienting role of private sector and commercial return in domestic and global exchange of finance, capital, services and science. the keynesian large state accomplished a lot, such as smoothing business cycle and incubating the next epoch of automation, but its sclerosis is crowding out capital from domestic economy, the fits of boondoggles wont be sufficient, they only reproduce imbalance, and the growing inequality between groups near automation and those near other domains.
Thank you. Very informative. And a little sad. While our services and software prowess in the US are awesome, we (probably the government) should have been more careful starting in the 70s as things declined in manufacturing. We don’t need to make tennis shoes, but steel, energy, munitions, shipbuilding etc are shells of what they use to be and will take decades to revive. They won’t. The next 100 years may be Chinese. They are now manufacturing giants.
From the NRC notice in the Federal Register on 05/19/2023 (truly an international company with ownerships involving companies from Cayman Islands, Bermuda and Canada):
The Application describes the indirect transfer of control of Westinghouse from Brookfield WEC Holdings Inc. (WEC Holdings), one of Westinghouse's intermediate parent companies, to Watt New Aggregator L.P. (Watt), an exempted limited partnership formed under the laws of the Cayman Islands, which is ultimately controlled by Brookfield Corporation (Brookfield), a Canadian company.
Westinghouse is currently a wholly owned subsidiary of WEC Holdings. Upon closing of the transaction, Watt will acquire 100% of Westinghouse. Brookfield will indirectly hold a 51 percent interest in Watt and Watt GP Ltd., a Bermuda company limited by shares, which controls Watt as its general partner. The remaining 49 percent interest in Watt and Watt GP Ltd. will be held by Cameco Corporation.
Bonus points to the lawyers for coming up with names like "Watt New Aggregator and Watt & Watt."
Paramount itself is the end result of another conglomerate named Gulf+Western(notice old Paramount movies that say Paramount, a Gulf+Western company) that eventually divested all of its industrial assets until it just held the Paramount movie studio and Simon and Shuster publishing. Gulf + Western then renamed itself Paramount Communications Group before merging with Viacom a few years before Viacom merger with CBS fka Westinghouse.
So interesting...and so sad. In my mid-70s, I have seen this deindustrialization and the resulting havoc in the deep south where I have lived. What were we thinking????
The four of us here have worked on hundreds of brownfield sites like the one you pictured at the top.
Not sure what's worse. That image and what it represents, or "the irony" at the end.
In between the incredible, relentless innovation and job creation and the current irony, many dignified American middle class lives were built.
It seems as though what industrial might the U.S. still maintains revolves around energy. Not just its production and distribution directly, but what abundant, affordable, reliable energy does to attract large capital investment in certain industries.
Great post, Chris.
China realized early (whether intentionally or unintentionally) that energy is key to a strong economy. Cheap power for consumers and industry can drive a lot of growth. I wonder how much of the anti-growth green speak was funded by them wanting it all?
An excellent and well written history. I have been a fan of George Westinghouse, one of the greatest power engineers ever, my entire life. Also interested in the history of power generation. This is outstanding and I will save for reference. Thank you!
Wow! An encapsulation of how the US economy went from a focus on manufacturing to manufacturing circuses.
Great post, Chris. Jack Welch and GE is a similar story.
Indeed. GE originates from Thomas Edison who was a rival of George Westinghouse back in the day. Interesting companies indeed.
Yes although in theory GE bought RCA not just NBC(which had been owned and founded by RCA since the beginning). RCA was an engineering/communications equipment company that owned a broadcast network, NBC to sell TVs and other electronics. Welch however, very quickly sold all of RCA's industrial assets(communications satellites, etc.) after buying RCA only keeping NBC. People might associate RCA with NBC present day but the communications bus used by GPS satellites to the present day is based on an RCA design.
Well-told story. I knew the middle part but not the endgame. Incidentally, the very first invention continued on its own as Westinghouse Air Brake, WABCO. Much later in the 1960s they branched into oil drilling equipment, the second invention, then finally collapsed in the usual way.
There’s so many threads to tug on for this story. Really should be a book. Absent that this is best thing out there. https://youtu.be/CUCPtlWiHFM?si=EkQ4B_tFuRkb4xri
I began my engineering career with Westinghouse Combustion Turbine Systems Division in 1980. The only inaccuracy in the article is there was no sudden "downturn in electricity demand" at that time. But there definitely was a downturn in orders for new grid capacity that coincided with nationwide breakup of utilities, and privatization, which saw generation and transmission infrastructure steadily decline from that point on. All of a piece with the deindustrialization of the country.
Thank you for this. Always so much more nuance out there.
Really nice job on the historical essay. I only got to work for W turbine for two years before SHTF and the breakup started. I get more wistful over those two great years at Circle W than I do over that beautiful girl who I thought was "the one" at the time.
Good to see George Westinghouse getting some deserved credit!
What a fascinating history & excellent articulation of it.
This story reminds me of the failure of the Instant Pot (Insta-pot), which on a much smaller scale, failed to financialize it's product & was doomed to survive in our advanced (late stage) capitalism, though creating a perfect product: one that does not need to be replaced, minimal repairs, & fulfilled an important need for consumers.
The lessons from these stories are a shame to consider, encouraging a type of degradation in corporate leadership & community values.
It makes me continually re-consider the philosophical underpinnings of our economy & society, where rent-seeking (rentier capitalism) is encouraged, & why planned obsolescence is rewarded ... CEOs are only judged by their growth, which requires them to behave with no regard for morality or ethics, & over time, such virtues seemingly grow archaic, & perhaps (i'm afraid) will eventually become defunct. I am stunned by today's increasing stock valuations created by hollowing out workers & automating displaced positions. It seems to portend a future of inevitable universal selfishness
... once we arrive, few will ask:
What have we done?
How did we squander a seemingly perfect opportunity to be equitable?
It will be difficult to answer by even the most discerning, but surely (as proven in this wonderful portrait of Westinghouse) a very long time coming.
Description of surface events that reverses the driving trends, different from the exploration of corporate org knowledge change in economic domains that often is posted in decouple, and this obscuring pushes thinking back toward keynesian large state as remedy, when in fact it is the cause.
Underneath the surface description of 'deindustrialization' is obsolescence of manufacturing domain in America, Europe and Japan which has directly resulted from lack of investment to modernize and automate manufacturing. China has the most automation in the world and no country will return to machine tending manufacture.
Underneath the surface description of 'financialization' is the cost burden of externalities that make investment in domestic domains other than advancing intelligent software systems unaffordable. Capital and market signal are messengers about a situation, not causes bringing it about, financialization isnt wrong or rent, it is reporting the actual costs. It's a vital signal for the externalities, the non commercial domains such as infrastructure and commercial policy whose position does not facilitate feedback from sales, commercial return, and state capacity must read the signals as part of broader quantitative mechanisms. The advanced countries face a revolution in state capacity made necessary by rushing automation, developing professional higher precision bodies that can forecast and equip finance capital and production capital. Only capital has the forms to explore, test, iterate and develop comparative advantage as it shifts with rising local and global productivity, and only a nimble state capacity can remove the cost barriers through infrastructure and commercial strategy/environment - which open the way to balancing automation across domains and reengineering western offering for emerging demand.
Some in the west learn exactly the wrong lesson from China because it conforms to keynesian paradigm - the illumination for us is not the relative legal prerogatives of state agencies and assets (this aspect is provisional and risky), it is the uber competition and central orienting role of private sector and commercial return in domestic and global exchange of finance, capital, services and science. the keynesian large state accomplished a lot, such as smoothing business cycle and incubating the next epoch of automation, but its sclerosis is crowding out capital from domestic economy, the fits of boondoggles wont be sufficient, they only reproduce imbalance, and the growing inequality between groups near automation and those near other domains.
Thank you. Very informative. And a little sad. While our services and software prowess in the US are awesome, we (probably the government) should have been more careful starting in the 70s as things declined in manufacturing. We don’t need to make tennis shoes, but steel, energy, munitions, shipbuilding etc are shells of what they use to be and will take decades to revive. They won’t. The next 100 years may be Chinese. They are now manufacturing giants.
From the NRC notice in the Federal Register on 05/19/2023 (truly an international company with ownerships involving companies from Cayman Islands, Bermuda and Canada):
The Application describes the indirect transfer of control of Westinghouse from Brookfield WEC Holdings Inc. (WEC Holdings), one of Westinghouse's intermediate parent companies, to Watt New Aggregator L.P. (Watt), an exempted limited partnership formed under the laws of the Cayman Islands, which is ultimately controlled by Brookfield Corporation (Brookfield), a Canadian company.
Westinghouse is currently a wholly owned subsidiary of WEC Holdings. Upon closing of the transaction, Watt will acquire 100% of Westinghouse. Brookfield will indirectly hold a 51 percent interest in Watt and Watt GP Ltd., a Bermuda company limited by shares, which controls Watt as its general partner. The remaining 49 percent interest in Watt and Watt GP Ltd. will be held by Cameco Corporation.
Bonus points to the lawyers for coming up with names like "Watt New Aggregator and Watt & Watt."
Thanks for the entertainment and education as you rightfully concluded. While I knew bits of his story, I'm now keen to learn even more.
I also hope pieces like this inspire some future nuclear engineers on this side of the Pacific.
This is an excellent next step on the Westinghouse corporate biography journey. https://youtu.be/CUCPtlWiHFM?si=_680-h0Udl-Hukdm
Paramount itself is the end result of another conglomerate named Gulf+Western(notice old Paramount movies that say Paramount, a Gulf+Western company) that eventually divested all of its industrial assets until it just held the Paramount movie studio and Simon and Shuster publishing. Gulf + Western then renamed itself Paramount Communications Group before merging with Viacom a few years before Viacom merger with CBS fka Westinghouse.
Sad story, an industry giant reduced to a media corporation.
So interesting...and so sad. In my mid-70s, I have seen this deindustrialization and the resulting havoc in the deep south where I have lived. What were we thinking????
Tragic story of perhaps America’s biggest manufacturing loss and China’s huge gain.