"So I'm getting sick and tired of these "service" jobs being demeaned by those who believe that we were better off when we were slaving away at some factory job."
I think one of the reasons this doesn't bother me much is that I pretty much have never really seen a factory, other than the one that makes Nissan vehicles over in Jackson, MS. None of my relatives, friends or friend's relatives gave worked in a factory.
Somehow, everybody I know managed to survive, and some of them even thrive, without ever setting foot in a factory or manufacturing anything. There was simply no alternative. I live in the South and it has NEVER had a manufacturing base but somehow, the people here manage to actually earn livings (gasp!) in the service industry, among others.
I, for one, just don't see how we can set record home sales, boast of some of the lowest unemployment in the world and fixate on the material items that we do if outsourcing is killing our economy.
Exactly. Somehow we are able to afford these huge home prices and buy a car or two to boot. Then cable TV, home computers, video games, books, music, movies, and on and on and on. Shopping malls and restaurants are absolutely mobbed. You just can't build them fast enough. Traffic is a nightmare in every big city because everybody's got the bucks to go out on the town and do things.
Yet some would have us believe that the sky is falling because some "Laverne and Shirley" bottle-capping jobs are going to Mexico or someplace. Give me a break.