It should. Globalization off-shored the bulk of our industrial base. In 1959, manufacturing accounted for 30%+/- of U.S. economic output. In 2008, it was 11%+/-. The United States lost 32% of its manufacturing jobs since 2000. Manufacturing employment in the U.S. computer industry is now lower today than it was in 1975. Asia produces 84% of all printed circuit boards. The United States has lost 42,000+/- factories since 2001. In 2008, 1.2 billion cellphones were sold, none were made here.
I see Caterpillar is expanding their manufacturing in China from 11 plants to 12 in order to build mini hydraulic excavators. More jobs, more output lost for the U.S. When I saw the first assembly lines leave General Electric and go offshore in the early '70's, I never dreamed that the day would come that the U.S. definition of manufacturing would be the building of a sandwich.
