I guess we are talking about different things. Yes, there is the obvious issue of automation and increases in efficiency decreasing the number of jobs in manufa

I guess we are talking about different things. Yes, there is the obvious issue of automation and increases in efficiency decreasing the number of jobs in manufacturing, so you are correct. There's also a different issue: strategically. it's pretty bad to depend on a handful of countries (China and Taiwan mostly) to make most of the products we consume. If - $deity forbid - the US and China went to war, it'd take years to get anywhere close to the manufacturing output we currently take for granted. On the other hand, one could argue that such dependence makes the likelihood of such a war, and the loss of life it'd lead to, almost nil.