No, I covered that factor in earlier posts.
U.S. manufacturing *will* return to the U.S. as the free market devalues the Dollar. It will simply become cheaper and quicker to make higher quality products here than over there, and the Invisible Hand of capitalism will do the rest...
...So long as President Bush, Alan Greenspan, and the Fed all continue to ignore the pleas of Europe and China to intervene in foreign exchange markets to prop up the Dollar.
Well, I expect you are wrong, although I hope that I am wrong and you are right.
As I have said, this is not a "free market" situation. The full weight of Chinese industrial/governmental policies and espionage efforts are intended to de-industrialize the U.S. and industrialize China.
Just think how much industry we would still have if China were compelled by a canny U.S. policy to BUY $120 billion annually of U.S. manufactures (not industrial plant, but manufactures) instead. The Free Fall of U.S. manufacturing, steel, automotive, machine tools, semiconductors, circuit boards, and engineering...would be slowed.
I partially agree with your reasoning...a weaker, or should I say a "closer to reality" valued dollar will make American goods more attractive, it can revive certain manufacturing industries (steel, textiles, plastics, etc.) However...there are a few things that have been left out in your reasoning...what about oil that must be bought overseas. A weaker dollar would translate into higher oil prices no? How much of the benefit from a weaker dollar would be realized by U.S. industry when coupled with higher gas/diesel/jet fuel prices? I'm thinking that since U.S. companies would still be subjected to tyrannical taxation, ridiculous environmental regulations, and union overhead that this scenario would be a wash at best...no better than we were before. Secondly, how many of those said industries do we actually still have physical plants and infrastructure for? (i.e. companies will not simply be returning to old factories, flipping the switches back on, getting people hired, and getting back to work overnight).