[american colleen]

I think this is what's stumping me - take the semiconductor export number for instance. I assume that's the finished product but I believe that most of the assembly and test stages are done offshore. What this says to me is that the company is based here in the US but they either offshore or subcontract most of the work that would be blue collar here to lower paying countries (I think Asia in this case).

I could definitely be wrong, but ten years out why would Asia need the US based company if they do most of the grunt work anyway?

It's like IT -- tons of companies outsource/offshore the technical component to the detriment of the US IT worker... resulting in a big loss of IT degrees here in the US for the future. Pretty soon it's a lost skill here and we rely on other countries to do that work since we can't do it ourselves.

I can see both sides of the 'flat world' equation but I am definitely unsettled about the future of the US worker in many skilled fields.

Glad my daughter is going for a nursing degree, son is a bit too young to decide but I hope he goes for a career in something that cannot be sent to another country.

[1rudeboy]

I did some research on the semiconductor sector a couple years ago. At the time, our largest plants were Intel’s in Flagstaff and Samsung’s in Austin. Both were undergoing multi-billion dollar expansions.