[expat_panama]

Manufacturing is real work. If you don’t don’t real work, eventually, you don’t eat

That's crazy.  It's just like what people said about farming a hundred years ago: "America needs farmers for food because we can't eat what factories make."  

Since those days we've gone from half the US population on the farm to a half of one percent, and we grow more food than ever thanks to the machines from our factories.  It's the same with the services, a factory that's got say, a better floor layout or a better cost/quality control system, can produce a hell of a lot more products than some old-time factory from the '30's.  

[familyop]

I wrote:
"Manufacturing is real work. If you don’t don’t real work, eventually, you don’t eat."

You replied, but you didn't present any argument against my comment.

Granted, my argument was simplified for most of the audience of readers. But if some of our trading partners do most of the manufacturing, they possess--physically, even if not legally--potential control of the joint economy and the means for their near-future survival.

As for Chinese production efficiency, I doubt that manufacturing there is the paragon of new technologies. And most business moguls here eschew terribly complicated robotics, men in engineering and the like. ;-)