[hristov]

Then I guess Brooks is wrong. But any way you look at it discussing that "americans are abandoning technical enterprise" without mentioning offshoring is missing the point (if you are being generous) or intentional deception (if you are a bit more realistic).

Regarding the statistics of manufacturing supposedly growing they are misleading. I don't have time to explain why they are misleading but if you dont believe me you can just visit Detroit, or Flynt Michigan, or even Philadelphia.

[InclinedPlane]

I wrote 88 words, could you please do me the favor of reading them all? Honestly, there's no need to skim. As I said, manufacturing output has been increasing, but that's in spite of (or perhaps even because of) manufacturing jobs diminishing due to increased efficiency. That can lead and has led to areas of the country that used to be heavily dependent on manufacturing jobs being left at a disadvantage if they fail to adapt to changing circumstances, but that's always true regardless of whether the economy or a particular industrial sector is growing or shrinking.

Moreover, the problems of Detroit and Flynt are not entirely encompassed by the decline of local manufacturing jobs.

[hristov]

Yeah I read your entire post. Nevertheless it is misleading. If you look at American manufacturing as percentage of American consumption of manufactured goods it is going down. The fact is that while manufacturing does get more efficient, the demand for manufactured goods increases, so that usually there is enough demand for the products of a factory even if its efficiency increases.

The fact that Flynt and Detroit and Philladelphia are empty shells of their former selves is not because the goods they made are still being made in America but more efficiently, but because the goods they made are being made somewhere else.

[InclinedPlane]

*"If you look at American manufacturing as percentage of consumption of American manufactured goods it is going down."

I cannot parse this, what is your meaning?

[hristov]

I meant "If you look at American manufacturing as percentage of American consumption of manufactured goods ..."

Edited in original.