Precisely. One would expect that unemployment would have increased in lockstep with the loss of manufacturing jobs if it were as harmful as has been claimed. Yet, excepting the very last few months, unemployment has been historically low for the last few years. Apparently, the out-of-work textile makers are having little trouble finding new work in most cases.
The transition away from a manufacturing economy here in the U.S. is a done deal. I'll say it again - it's a done deal. This economy is a service economy, and we're all the better for it.
People have this notion of service industries as being burger-flipping jobs. They are - the low end of the service sector. But insurance is a service industry. Banking is a service industry. Telecommunications is a service industry. Increasingly, software is a service industry.
What's likely to make this country wealthier - selling the world shirts and shoes, or insurance and software?
There is, however, more to it. With each dollar each of us spends, we are "buying" the future social structure of our country, for our kids and grandkids and posterity. So, done deal or not, it makes sense to debate the issue, and for each of us to decide how to spend our money. We are NOT merely purchasing goods and services: we are purchasing the future of our country . . .
My concern is family enterprise (farm, business) and the communities they support. We are not faceless consumers as in Econ 101. We are people, who live and work in families and communities. For communities to be effective, money has to stay in the community, for charities, ads in high school yearbooks, etc. etc. Not all go to Wal-Mart or China. Small town and rural America is a great strength of our country, and if you don't think it matters, look at the Bush/Gore election map . . .
There is still more to it. Freedom includes the freedom to freely make a living; this includes a reasonable access to productive assets for the people as a whole, not only oligarchists and mega-capitalists.
If economic efficiency were the only consideration, maybe we should all be wage-slaves for an international mega-copropration. However, it is not the only consideration. In addition, as has been pointed out on this thread, government tax and regulatory policies do not create a level-playing field. So "economic efficiency" is distorted.