[WRhine]

"Information" plays a big role in this because the manufacturer has to be able to communicate ..

Nothing new here. Manufacturing has always involved trade, communication and global suppliers. What has changed is trade policies that have created great disincentives to manufacture here and reward corporations for moving jobs to nations that have few regulations, weak rule of law and slave level wages.

This has resulted in America losing hundreds of critical manufacturing industries, technological skills, high paying jobs, and lost future industries that require a strong manufacturing infrastructure for support.

Then we have the massive trade deficits that are a direct result of not having enough physical goods to export which comes right out of our GDP growth.

To listen to free traders, trade did not exist until the WTO. Such massive propaganda.

[familyop]

Yes, big corporations love regulations at home and family-breaking polices. Such regulations keep the poor, technically inclined trash from building its own houses and starting new, small manufacturing shops. NIMBYs and local regulators like regulations and high fees even more.

[Alberta's Child]

What's "new" here is that advances in computer technology, communications and transportation have made it much easier to conduct business across borders than ever before.

I would make the case that the development of containerized shipping has played a much bigger role in the decline of U.S. manufacturing than any trade agreement has.