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"Manufacturing workers’ earnings exceed those of workers in services and other sectors. Average hourly compensation for manufacturing workers was $24.30 in 2001, compared with $19.74 in service-producing sectors."

Many of those who downplay the importance of manufacturing fail to understand that they are employed in jobs which only exist to either directly or indirectly support manufacturing. When the manufacturing base is gone their reason to exist will be gone but they lack the broad overview to understand this. The three legged stool that supports a strong economy is agriculture, mining and manufacturing, if there is some way to eliminate one of the legs without ultimately collapsing the stool then someone has failed to explain it to me or I simply lack the capacity to understand it.
There is much talk today about the "service economy", a service economy only exists because the people doing the producing of goods are productive enough to enjoy the wealth to purchase services from others. Someone has to produce the goods. Are the Chinese going to support our service economy? With all their millions of very cheap workers I believe they will furnish their own services. What can we send to China to repatriate all the wealth that we are sending to them? I see us as cutting our own throat with a knife bought from China. I really wish someone could come up with a convincing reason to believe that I am wrong!