The world shot itself in the foot, culturally-speaking, a long time ago, when they set out over the Bearing Land Bridge following the mastodons. Those people HAD a culture they understood and maybe even one in which they were happy. The mastodons went away and people were forced to change their old ways and accept new ways. Much the same can be said for American manufacturing.
Someone got the bright idea that if they could make some things cheaper and maintain the illusion of the same quality, then that would mean MUCH more money for the company at the end of the day. "How can we do that?" We let someone else do the "dirty work" cheaper. "Who will be willing to do that?" People who aren't used to the good old American lifestyle. People who grew up with a lot less than the average "poor" American.
I can tell you from my kitchen remodeling project...The plasterer was from Ireland. His assistant was from Venezuala. The roofers were Mexicans. The cable installer is Romanian. The flooring guys are Russians. And, yet, every one of the company reps (the people who write the bids) were born in the USA. We bred a generation of CEOs but all the workers are out of sight in another country where there are fewer safety restrictions, environmental restrictions, liability insurance, taxes, etc.
On the bright side: Our air pollution is MUCH less than what is seen in Chinese manufacturing cities. We may be out of a job, but at least we will starve to death breathing clean air. DOH!
In order to get good old American manufacturing back again, we're going to have to regain that good old attitude of: "When you want something done right, then you gotta do it yourself..." - or do without it!
And it's VERY easy for me to type all of this and feel that it sounds "right" -because that's the nature of writing. But, in application, the way that things work in real-time, tend to trump what sounds good on paper.
Chewie:
