That's just what we need...
an industrial infrastructure based on the philosophy of a 1960s hippie commune...
I can see it now...
high-quality, handcrafted tie-die T-shirts, leather sandals, belt buckles, candles, pipes & bongs...
Kumbaya! It's a small, small world!
"This is like deja vu all over again."
~ Yogi Berra
You are sooooo behind! We have the most educated, independant, creative workforce in the history of the world.
There are plenty of people willing to pay top dollar for that which is well made with an individualistic flare or customised to their specs.
Unfortunately, it looks like a lot of furniture companies were top heavy with unimaginative clock watching management who thought is was their right to churn out the same dull cheap crap the chinese do, but at higher prices all because they are American or Union.
Newsflash: the macro-industrial revolution has been over for 20 years or better. Micro-industry is where it's at, fast, innovative, decentralized and responsive to changing consumer demand (when it's not flat out creating consumer demand because it so far in front of the pack).
Hippies? NOT
right. who needs an auto industry, give it to china, and let the americans crank out custom made skateboards.