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?