[M.D. Holloway]

So Asia (China & India) are becoming world power houses in manufacturing and IT. The US is falling behind very quickly and save food processing and a few select industries our manufacturing sector has pretty much banged the dredges. Yet the US still has a high quality of life and the mean income that is darn good.

So, we loose all our manufacturing sectors yet all the other ways the US makes money is still intact - the law stuff, the accounting, the creative end of business, various services even some high end science and engineering. I am sure I have missed something but we are still making money.

I am not so sure that being out of manufacturing is so bad. Look it like this. You want to start your own company. You have a great product idea. You can build it or you can farm it out and then just market it and sell it. You will find out very quickly that your margins get soaked up when you build it your elf and try to be competitive. Let some other poor fool take it in the shorts. The competition to lower mfg costs can be brutal. So why not let Asia take the burdon?