Foreign economics.

• Author: Rundles, Jeff
• Position: RUNDLES [wrap-up]

Super Bowl Sunday has evolved into something of a national holiday and, as such, a celebration of everything America. There's football, of course, the nation's undisputed No. 1 sport, and television, the nation's No. 1 recreation, and an unbelievable concentration on commercialism, the country's No. 1 activity.

There was something about this year's game, XLV, that I hope becomes the U.S.'s No. 1 goal: a return to our industrial roots. It began just before kickoff with a video celebration of Green Bay and Pittsburgh, the two old industrial stalwart towns whose teams took part in the game. The piece, put together by Fox Sports, focused on the age-old industrial themes of Wisconsin meatpacking (The Green Bay Packers, nee Acme Packers), and Pittsburgh steel, and the image of hard-working, gritty towns that symbolize the Golden Age of American industrial might.

Later, in the second half, came a stunning new advertising campaign from Chrysler, called "Born of Fire," a two-minute commercial featuring purposefully unglamorous yet inspiring shots of Detroit and the rapper Eminem to celebrate the past glory of, and perhaps the resurgence of, the Motor City. The "Imported from Detroit" line Chrysler unveiled is simply brilliant.

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There seems lately to be a ton of messages about the country's manufacturing, industrial past, and for the first time in a long time it is being looked at as a national strength. For more than 30 years there has been an attack on labor, manifest mostly through the creation of the pejorative "unions," as if all those engaged in labor had somehow ruined the American Dream.

It's time to take a fresh look. There were, of course, many problems created by the old industrial model, we certainly don't want to return to polluted skies and waterways, for instance. But the blight and decay really showed up throughout the country as heavy industry declined and poverty prevailed in its environs. In its heyday, American industrial mettle created an enormous amount of wealth, on Wall Street and on Main Street, and there's a lesson in that.

While we are as yet far from the tipping point in the U.S., part of that lesson can be seen in the recent national turmoil in Tunisia and Egypt. These countries were or are under totalitarian government, but the people there demanding reform are citing, in part, the ever-increasing economic gap between the elites, the haves...