[ninenot]

How does the rate of manufacturing job loss in the US compare with the rates of manufacturing job losses overseas?

Thanks for your intelligent and well-meaning inquiry.

According to the CIA's "Factbook," manufacturing as a percentage of GDP is dramatically higher than the USA's in a number of countries.

Ireland 48%, Austria 33%, Germany, Japan, Spain 31%, Sweden 29%, Australia, Canada, France 26%, India 25%, Belgium 24%, USA 18%, HongKong 13.5%.

Must be that all those other countries are composed largely of stupid, fat, lazy, buggywhip makers, eh?

Now it's our turn: why do you suppose that those other countries make it a national policy to maintain those numbers, and that China is doing anything possible to attain those numbers?

Hmmmmmmm????

[Elliott Jackalope]

Thanks for posting that info. Do they have statistics on how much of our GDP is produced by "service" jobs, as compared to those other countries?

[Huber]

How does the rate of manufacturing job loss in the US compare with the rates of manufacturing job losses overseas?

Thanks for your intelligent and well-meaning inquiry.

According to the CIA's "Factbook," manufacturing as a percentage of GDP is dramatically higher than the USA's in a number of countries.

Ireland 48%, Austria 33%, Germany, Japan, Spain 31%, Sweden 29%, Australia, Canada, France 26%, India 25%, Belgium 24%, USA 18%, Hong Kong 13.5%.

Must be that all those other countries are composed largely of stupid, fat, lazy, buggy-whip makers, eh?

1. Interesting that you sidestepped the underlined question above. If you checked the data, you would find that the US is actually retaining manufacturing jobs at a much higher rate than many of the top ten offshore outsourcing destination countries.

2. Interesting that with the exception of Ireland, the largely deregulated tiger of Europe, the countries that you listed have economies and overall employment rates in far worse shape than ours. What inferences should we draw from this? Perhaps France is stealthily outflanking US business by ensuring that its workers are virtually impossible to fire, strike frequently and receive six weeks of vacation?

3. Interesting that you assume that buggy whip makers are lazy. Laziness is not the issue. The point there is simply that certain professions are rendered obsolete by technology. As manufacturing becomes more automated, more production is achieved with fewer workers.

I think that we can all agree that it would be a bad thing from both an economic and a national security perspective to lose manufacturing capacity and capabilities. However, it seems that you are instead defending "full employment" in sectors where it is no longer economically justified.