What this suggests is that they have redirected resources from inefficient mills to efficient mills, and that American manufacturers that depend on steel are incurring lower costs. The major steel-using industries are the automotive, construction, containers, railroads, oil, electrical equipment, and appliances industries. Their cost savings are passed on to American consumers through lower prices, or to American investors through higher profits, or, more likely, to both. Competition is making survival tougher for the steel industries, but that competition is good because it weeds out the inefficient, the survival-impaired. Engineers design better machines, and financiers who figure out how to pay for those machines.
Lawyers figure out better contractual arrangements between producers, transporters, and wholesalers.
Except, of course, union bosses and protectionist politicians. Overall, both American and world steel production have gone up over time. The all-time high of American steel production occurred during 1969. While this seems to counter my claim, one must realize that all of the periods marked by wars showed an extraordinary rise in steel production - not a surprising revelation. There are two other trends occurring here which are not shown by the table above, but which match my argument precisely.