It was inevitable that this primacy should have narrowed as other countries grew richer．Just as inevitably，the retreat from predominance proved painful．By the mid-1980s Americans had found themselves at a loss over their fading industrial competitiveness．Some huge American industries，such as consumer electronics，had shrunk or vanished in the face of foreign competition．By 1987 there was only one American television maker left，Zenith． (Now there is none：Zenith was bought by South Korea’S LG Electronics in July．)Foreign-made cars and textiles were sweeping into the domestic market．America’s machinetool industry was on the ropes．