As much as I hate to admit it Hollings is right on this one. The traditional key to creating wealth is to take raw materials, add labor and sell the product. Once we have lost that capacity the only jobs left for our children will be in governmental or educational bureauocracy. But who and what will pay the taxes to support those bureauocracies?
Alan Greenspan's tightening of the Fed credit started this downward spiral in the manufacturing sector in the summer of 2000, and we're not out of it yet.