on why it failed: > US Steel and other steelmakers eventually followed those foreign competitors to upgrade factories and equipment, but they still largely used the older methods to make steel by melting raw materials such as iron ore in giant blast furnaces. > Those “integrated” steelmakers soon lagged behind so-called “mini-mills,” nonunion competitors that use more efficient electric arc furnaces to turn old steel…
The glaring issue I see is that if "integrated" mills start shutting down, where will the old steel scrap for the mini-mills eventually come from? Someone somewhere has to be making new steel.
Don't worry middle-class and below in the future will: not be able to buy cars, not able to use fossil fuel in any way, very limited in what steel products they can buy.
US Steel hasn't failed, it's been pumping out money for a long time. $1.6B in profit in the last 4Q's on a market cap of $9B. It's far from dead - leverage is only 45%; they've got $11B in equity in the company. [ https://valustox.com/X ]
on why it failed: > US Steel and other steelmakers eventually followed those foreign competitors to upgrade factories and equipment, but they still largely used the older methods to make steel by melting raw materials such as iron ore in giant blast furnaces. > Those “integrated” steelmakers soon lagged behind so-called “mini-mills,” nonunion competitors that use more efficient electric arc furnaces to turn old steel…
> Those “integrated” steelmakers soon lagged behind so-called “mini-mills,” nonunion competitors that use more efficient electric arc furnaces to turn old steel scrap from discarded cars and other products into new steel products This means "chinese" mini mills^1 which require a lot of manual labor to collect the steel. This is not a technology problem, but a manpower/safety race to the bottom, that the US couldn't e…
Most chinese workers (and foreigners working in China) are in a union, however run by the communist party.
> US Steel has agreed to be bought by Nippon Steel, Japan’s largest steelmaker, in a $14.1 billion deal. > Earlier this summer the United Steelworkers union vowed to only support a proposed offer by another unionized American steel company, Cleveland Cliffs, to buy US Steel, in a cash and stock deal then valued at $32.53 a share, or 40% less than Nippon’s all cash offer. The US Steel board rejected that offer and sta…
on why it failed: > US Steel and other steelmakers eventually followed those foreign competitors to upgrade factories and equipment, but they still largely used the older methods to make steel by melting raw materials such as iron ore in giant blast furnaces. > Those “integrated” steelmakers soon lagged behind so-called “mini-mills,” nonunion competitors that use more efficient electric arc furnaces to turn old steel…
It's not exactly unheard of. One feature that makes unions in the United States different from other countries is that they tend to have a more adversarial relationship with employers and the government. Sectoral bargaining is very rare, if it exists at all. Union laws are a patchwork of left- and right-wing administrations' attempts to undermine each other. American culture, in particular the prominence of Manichaean narratives, may play a role in making different groups see each other as "evil" and willing to do underhanded things, whether it's the UFCW planting an ABC news story about Food Lion or Amazon ignoring labor laws to fire unionizing workers. The teacher's union and police union serve as bogeymen for one or the other political party. Advocating compromise is often met with scorn.
US Steel hasn't failed, it's been pumping out money for a long time. $1.6B in profit in the last 4Q's on a market cap of $9B. It's far from dead - leverage is only 45%; they've got $11B in equity in the company. [ https://valustox.com/X ]
If YouTube goes from having 100% market share to the 27th-largest video site, you will definitely say that it has failed. That is the history of US Steel.
Youtube is a platform business. Being in the top 5 is everything because that's how you get creators and consumers. If Youtube fell to #27, it would be a ghost town and lose a ton of money.
But steel is just steel. You make it and then you sell it. If you make money, great. That is what US Steel does. They make steel, they sell it at a profit. I call that a win.
After being coddled up by the govt for so many years (NatSec tariffs, tax breaks, bailouts, import restrictions, etc), ultimately it still failed.
I have no comment on this specific case, but in general: all of those things—all government interventions that ostensibly protect an industry or company—make it more brittle, less efficient, and more likely to fail. That is precisely the point. You can’t build a successful business by ignoring reality.
At the same time some industries and their major businesses are strategically important enough to warrant government support.
on why it failed: > US Steel and other steelmakers eventually followed those foreign competitors to upgrade factories and equipment, but they still largely used the older methods to make steel by melting raw materials such as iron ore in giant blast furnaces. > Those “integrated” steelmakers soon lagged behind so-called “mini-mills,” nonunion competitors that use more efficient electric arc furnaces to turn old steel…
It's not exactly unheard of. One feature that makes unions in the United States different from other countries is that they tend to have a more adversarial relationship with employers and the government. Sectoral bargaining is very rare, if it exists at all. Union laws are a patchwork of left- and right-wing administrations' attempts to undermine each other. American culture, in particular the prominence of Manichaea…
And none of what you said has anything to do with US Steel, so your point is?