[endthematrix]

"Manufacturing is the best way to create wealth..."

It is the ONLY way to create wealth (or by plunder). The Fed wil try to convince you that a printing press creates it or that a currency swap will do it. The strength of a nation is its capacity of production. And in the case with China, it's the ability to dump its own (or US multinationals) products at an astounding low rate.

[Elliott Jackalope]

I would argue that there are two other ways to create wealth, by mining it out of the ground and by growing it (or harvesting what is already grown). The three ways of creating wealth are grow it, mine it or make it out of what has been grown or mined. That's how I understand it. When you dump your manufacturing capability you leave only mining or growing as your ways to create wealth. We cannot support a multi-trillion dollar economy on what we grow and mine in this country.