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The service jobs that he derides are better paying than his statistics show, due to higher levels of deferred compensation, profit-sharing, and other benefits

Bwahahahahahahahahha!

That's a good one. Got any other Fairy Tales for the peanut gallery such as:

All those dollars invested in foreign economies are busily creating huge middle classes in places like India and the Pacific Rim - gargantuan future markets for US-based services.

Have you ever stopped to think that these "gargantuan future markets" won't be filled by expensive US-based services, but by lesser priced local-based services? If a market is smart enough to become "middle-class", why would it be dumb enough to overpay for American "services"? No, I didn't think so.

Third World, here we come!

Yeah, I guess you're right. The economy of the future is for workers who know how to bend sheet metal and sew leather wallets. Who needs knowledge and service skills? Now buggy whips, you just can't get enough of those these days. And we certainly need to get more Americans back on 8-hour shift assembly-line jobs, because, God knows, they're not smart enough to handle tasks that require education and decision-making skills.

/sarcasm

I don't know what you do for a living, but I'm a business analyst. And my training tells me that in 50 years, traditional labor manufacturing will not only be gone in the US (10 years), but in most of the Third World as well. Virtually all consumer goods will be made, packaged, and even delivered by machines. Many already are (seen a Nissan auto plant lately?). The future of human labor is in knowledge, and international borders - while vital to freedom and free trade - are no barrier to its transmission. I don't really care whether the guy I'm paying is an American or an Indian - as long as he can do the job. You're quite wrong- we are not "going" Third World. The Third World is going US. All we need is better education, lower taxes, an end to illegal immigration, and fewer Democrat/socialist politicians, and we might be able to compete.