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The problem is taxation & regulation - an overbearing government here in the US.

You shouldn't minimize the affect of the wages that our manufacturing/industrial employees demand in the USA.

We cannot and are not competitive with lower wage Asian counties.

Absolutely, unions and the minimum wage have priced American factories out of the market (even out of domestic markets). And on top of that, union rules and intervention have killed domestic quality.

As a final point, if we think Chinese and Indian labor are pricing American union workers out of the market...wait until real fully automated factories enter the marketplace (coming soon)...even Chinese labor will look expensive by comparison.

In fact, the era of labor is actually over...China and India are just catching the tail end of it.

Future labor will be software and hardware engineers.

I agree wage/bene levels are a big part of the problem. Minimum wage laws have added to this problem. Certainly there are wages/benes that are far out of proportion to their productivity. A garbage collector that earns $100,000 plus benes is one, but so is a banker who gets millions even though the bank loses billions.

But there are other potential inducements to attracting business & industry.

The USA is a fairly honest & stable place to do business. The lights stay on 24/7, usually. Water & waste disposal are reliable. Transportation & communication is unrivaled in the world.

No we can't compete with Asian nations making underwear & stuffed dolls. Who cares? But we COULD compete in hi-tech items, IF the gov’t would get the hell out of the way, stop subsidizing some businesses at the expense of others, & stop pretending they know what is best for American business.