What I find most surprising is some of the items the list includes given that the list is supposed to be iconic American things. I would have never thought to connect the manufacture of cell phones, flatware or sardines primarily with the USA
As to the whys of why fewer and fewer products are being manufactured in the USA--I agree with Bicker (and others) that this is primarily consumer driven. The fact of the matter is that most Americans prefer to pay less for a product (even preferring to pay less NOW for a low quality product which they will likely have to replace in a year than paying more for a higher quality one that will last decades). I also agree that the vast majority of Americans DO have discretionary money to spend and prefer to buy more cheap things with it than fewer more costly items. Just look at how many more things a typical American owns now than they did 100 years ago. Look at how many more clothing items, kitchen gadgets, square feet in their homes, etc.
Look at how many Americans now consider cable and internet to be necessities or vacations to be a right.
C Ann--since you bring up yourself as an example of someone who has no extra $$ to spend (you and your DD are not out in the stores shopping you say) I can just say that from your posts only I know that you have a place to live with your DD and do live there half the year, yet you continue to maintain a second address "at the lake." You buy lots and lots of books (online--not supporting a locally run book store). You have a computer and internet connection. You buy crayons and other craft items. You own a TV and have cable (based on you checking the weather channel every day). Your DD is about to buy a new dryer (also not a necessity--I run mine maybe twice a month for convenience's sake--but folding racks set up in the basement or even the living room do indeed work).
Please don't misunderstand. I think all of those expenditures are FINE and totally your business. I have no issue with the expenses whatsoever. I do, however, take issue with people who have such expenditures claiming they have no money going to discretionary spending that could possibly be going to spending more for less items and those fewer items being then locally made, higher quality, etc.
As far as cars go--the make or model tells you virtually nothing about where it is made. Some "domestic" cars have virtually no domestic parts in them and are not even assembled domestically whereas other "foreign" cars may have substantially more domestically manufactured parts and be assembled in the US.
My husband works for a German company. They have plants in 46 countries. Every mass produced car in the world has at least one of their parts in it (this was the case as of 2005 anyway--the new report on the 2010 figures is not out yet that I am aware of). I would guess most cars these days have parts made in at least 20 different countries (and engineering work done in 2-3 at a minimum).
for just a quilt?? Then you think about it, that's still under $2 per hour of work, plus the cost of materials. And she only does it by hand. 
. Their response was that "people in this town have a lot of money but they don't spend it here". Yes, people had a lot of money but they were FRUGAL and you were NOT providing what people wanted, plain and simple.
