[Luis Gonzalez]

Again, no one, including Adam Smith, is suggesting that the manufacturing of our weapons, and defense systems, can be offshored or even outsourced, that's suicidal.

All the points contained apply to consumerism, not national defense.

[tpaine]

Luis Gonzalez says:
"The manufacturing of weapons for national defense is the business of the government."

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Precisely. And if the means of production are offshore?
-civil-

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"You can't confuse issues of national defense with issues involving trade."
-luis-

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No one is confusing them. I'm simply pointing out that we need a bit more infrastructure for weapons development and making than a handful of gun manufacturers.
There has to be a balance and trade is absolutely not independent from defense.

Yet again..China is not our friend and India was considered too socialist to be our friend until recently.
46 civil discourse

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Again, no one, including Adam Smith, is suggesting that the manufacturing of our weapons, and defense systems, can be offshored or even outsourced, that's suicidal.

All the points contained apply to consumerism, not national defense.
49 -luis-

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Luis, have you ever considered that our entire american economy ["consumerism"], is worth defending?

As 'Civil' correctly points out, -- we can't build weapons without the entire infrastructure of a healthy self sustaining economy. -- Correct?

[CrucifiedTruth]

Again, no one, including Adam Smith, is suggesting that the manufacturing of our weapons, and defense systems, can be offshored or even outsourced, that's suicidal.
All the points contained apply to consumerism, not national defense.

Wrong. The Soviet Union failed because it developed only national defense and for consumer goods relied largely on imports. They could not develop any other industries because automation was a big NO-NO. See, the worker class was the source of political power. Stagnating consumer industries and suppressed innovation led to the fallout. But we are seeing the same here. Manufacturing feeds engineering with problems and money, that is what fuels science in turn. The US is starting to look quite like the SU before the fallout - an eroded manufacturing base with engineering and science employed only by the military. It ain't pretty.