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You hit the nail on the head. Does anyone else here remember we heard many of the same arguments in the 1990s---that we were losing all our mfg. jobs? Fine, if that is the case, when did we "GAIN" the manufacturing jobs that we are not "losing?"

I don't for a minute think that industry hasn't shed some/many jobs. But what you aren't seeing is the churning at the other end---the small shops doing the outsourcing/freelance/contractual stuff that are adding workers here and there. More important, we constantly overlook the number of NEW BUSINESS startups via entrepreneurs who are fed up with working for other people who can lay them off.

For example, Glenn Hubbard and William Gentry have a new paper on "entrepreneurship and household saving," showing that, to cut out all the "economese," households that have businesses own a substantial share of household wealth and income, and that they save almost universally in an undiversified manner---i.e., all their money goes into their businesses. Finally, they show that entrepreneurs save at even higher rates than everyone else. This is just one of many papers on how businesses are started (usually by internal funding, savings, etc., not loans) and how they grow (pretty well). There are plenty more studies out there like this.

What are you trying to say?

There were manufacturing industries srinking during the 1970s and 1980s, and these continued to shrink during the 1990s. Whatever manufacturing we gained was a result of launching new industries such as computers, the internet, and related peripherals. The problem today is that all of these sectors are shrinking, and there is no new manufacturing jobs on the horizon.

As for entrepreneurship, it is largely a dead end. 4 out of 5 new businesses fail dramatically, and the barriers to entry are set higher then ever. The ADA requirements, insurance, and the convoluted licensing process alone will burn most people. Just the health insurance cost, for a family of four, is almost as large as a morgage. If you think entrepreneurship is the way to go, you either haven't launched a new business in decades, or are fortunate enough to have access to very significant capital. Sure people are trying to start new businesses; What choice do they have? But, most of these are not going to make it.