[Alberta's Child]

Here's a remarkable figure that tells the story:

The U.S. isn't losing its competitive edge to Asia because labor is cheaper there. It's losing to Asia because there are more CUSTOMERS there.

Think about that figure for a second. There are more people living inside that circle than in Europe, Africa, North and South America, and almost all of Russia and the Middle East -- COMBINED!

[9YearLurker]

That’s actually not true—here’s some data on iPhone shipments worldwide—and it doesn’t make sense. Even if there were more iPhones sold in Asia, if it were cheaper to make them here, it’d be cheaper to make those destined for the US market here as well.