It sounds like you have a pretty antiquated view of manufacturing. It looks nothing like what you are calling it: "low value commodity bodies to screw things on

It sounds like you have a pretty antiquated view of manufacturing. It looks nothing like what you are calling it: "low value commodity bodies to screw things on." No offense to you in particular, but it sounds like you haven't updated your views since 1975. This is common because most manufacturing happens well outside of the lives of people in tech or service work. Most screws these days are not screwed on by "bodies." They are screwed on by machine. Much of employment in manufacturing these days is in higher value work: operating CNC machines, maintaining robots and other machinery, engineering, and so on. If manufacturing work is so low value and commodity, why do manufacturing jobs pay $20k more per person, on average, than service work? Why does the manufacturing sector have annual average compensation of $70k, despite taking place in generally LCOL areas? Do you look at a modern car and say: wow, what a low-value commodity good? The Economist article you cite says nothing about manufacturing and does not support your point. In fact, when you look at the total output of manufacturing today versus 1947, it is about the same percentage of our GDP: even though manufacturing employment has dropped from 35% of Americans to less than 9% because of efficiency gains. The idea that manufacturing has disappeared from America is false and a myth. I invite you to actually go tour a modern manufacturing facility with high speed robotic computer-controlled production lines. It may make you think differently about the physical comforts you depend on in your life.