I don't think mass manufacturing of durable goods is going to resurge any time soon.
The wage gap is just too wide, shipping costs are too low, and environmental impact costs and "buying the government" costs are just to high here compared to elsewhere. What I think should make a resurgence are medium and low quantity run goods. Mass customization. New products. "safe" products. Final assembly. And a lot more handmade or "craftsman" products. On Tue, Jan 27, 2009 at 12:10 AM, Judah McAuley <[email protected]>wrote: > I was thinking about the economic situation this evening and wondering > what people's thoughts were about manufacturing in America. > > Manufacturing is generally considered the backbone of post-WWII growth > in America. But starting with the 80's recession (I believe) > manufacturing has steadily gone overseas. Once upon a time it was the > vehicle for high-wage blue collar jobs that enabled a broader growth > in home ownership and didn't require the debt of extensive post-high > school education. It seemingly sustained a fair amount of our middle > class. > > In the last two decades the middle class has shrunk as a percentage of > the population, manufacturing jobs have gone away, the gap between > rich and poor has increased and well paying low education jobs are > hard to find. A lot of people seem to think that that's just the way > it is. Manufacturing has gone to low-wage countries and if we want to > sustain our job engine, we have to do it with a more knowledge and > service-based economy. Other people argue against that and hope to see > a resurgence in manufacturing in the US, especially in the so-called > "green economy" sector. > > What do people think about manufacturing in America? Can there be a > resurgence? Should there be? Do we want to say goodbye to that sector > and rightfully focus on other sectors? > > Judah > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;207172674;29440083;f Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:286811 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
