The Inland Empire Takes on Asia

I was scouting around for some information on the old Kaiser Steel plant, and I ran across this happy little piece from The Kaiserworks:

By 1993, Washington’s loosening of trade restrictions allowed the Kaiser Steel Works to be sold at bargain basement prices to the brutal Chinese communist government. A team of 200 communist technicians disassembled the plant, part by part, and shipped it to their homeland. Now, Kaiser’s monument to American industry makes steel for tanks, ships and automobiles in China.

What remains is home to the California Speedway and industrial ruins. The film Pearl Harbor was refused permission to film at the site because the current operator of the remaining plant, California Steel, is partially owned by Kawasaki Steel, a Japanese company.

This is known as not being politically correct, and reminds me of an elementary school paper that I saw. It was written in the 1980s, back when East Germany was still a separate country. The paper declared that the East Germans "eat Communist foods." Not quite sure what that meant.

Back to the page above, which is part of the webiste for Kaiser Defense, a San Diego-based defense company.

Kaiser Defense LLC specializes in design and manufacture of precision firearm parts and the sale of related accessories. We are an 07 federal firearm licensee /SOT/ CAGE defense contractor offering complete manufacturing services from prototypes, short runs to mass production. Individual and depot level repair and modification is available to military and government agencies.

Your mission requirement is our mission, we are here to serve you! All Kaiser Defense manufactured products are proudly made in the USA.

OK, let's go back up north:

The community [of Fontana] faced a transition in 1942 when Fontana was selected as the site for a steel mill. The City was incorporated June 25, 1952 with a population of 13,695 and became Southern California's leading producer of steel and related products. The steel industry dominated the City's economy since the mill was built. However, in the late 1970's, Kaiser Steel began to cut down on production and manpower and the steel mill closed in 1984. The plate steel and rolling mill plant was acquired by California Steel Company, which continues to produce steel products.

I know I've strayed a little south of the Inland Empire.