On 12/25/2013 5:17 AM, Kurt Ullman wrote:
In article ,
wrote:


Lots of stuff. Manufacturing hasn't really fallen off, so much,
as that it hasn't grown with the economy, over the last couple of
decades but there is still a lot of high-value manufacturing going
on here.

Interestingly recent study says that manufacturing itself has stayed
the same monetarily even after inflation (although you are correct
about the growth part). However employment has gone down in mfg
because of the rise of automation. We have lost more jobs to the
robots than the Chinese. (And before anyone trots out that old
chestnut about losing only low skilled jobs to the robots, I would
note that the industry that is usually thought to be among the most
highly automated is the auto industry.. and not many low paying jobs
there. )


I remember when Zenith bragged in their advertizing that the Zenith TV
was "Hand Crafted". It probably takes about 5 minutes to manufacture the
populated circuit board then solder it for a TV from all preloaded parts
on an automated production line. The humans are just plugging things in
and assembling the set. ^_^

TDD