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>but to adapt to market conditions and learn skills which cannot be readily exported

"Do you want fries with that?"

>Henry Ford single-handedly destroyed the buggy whip industry; is that a bad thing?

Except we're not eliminating an obsolete technology...

You joke about "wanting fries with that," but service-based industries, in this case, food service, is exactly the types of industries that will dominate the US economy. Service industries are always in demand, which is why people like doctors, lawyers, plumbers, etc., aren't damaged nearly as badly in economic downturns as manufacturing based industries. I don't NEED a new pair of shoes this month, but the essential services I can't do without. Innovative capitalists will continue to develop new services and new products--which may be manufactured overseas, but the profits remain at home with the investors and the owners, making everyone happy.

Moreover, certain manufacturing jobs will always be in the US, such as construction and the like.

I agree that we're not eliminating an obsolete technology, but we are evolving into a different, better system of economics. For instance, farming wasn't obsolete when the industrial revolution rolled around, but the economics of the time called for people to abandon farming and pursue industrial jobs. Here, a rational participator in the market will abandon industrial work to pursue a career in service or technology related fields.