[goldstategop]

China is shedding communism and is adopting free markets as fast as it can. China seeks to be a developed and affluent country, rivalling the United States in power and wealth. I think they can do it.

[LouisianaLobster]

Trying to calculate China's direct impact on U.S. factory jobs, some labor economists use a theoretical formula. The labor-oriented Economic Policy Institute in Washington estimates that Americans lost 344,000 jobs because of Chinese imports. And institute economist Robert Scott calls it "the tip of the iceberg." "The job losses are having tremendous downward pressure on wages throughout the economy and prompting firms to threaten to close plants, which they are using to force down wages and having a chilling effect on wages in service industries," Scott said.

Give it another 15 years, and it will be Americans producing Nikes for the Chinese market. They'll get $0.25 an hour.

[11B3]

It's time for the US DoD to come to the rescue of America (again). We're at war. The DoD needs lots of new stuff for this war and the real war to follow. (Space.) The procurement of all this equipment should be awarded to companies who produce the parts/assemblies inside the US ONLY. No subcontracting any of it outside the US.

The military industrial complex, along with our agriculture (and it's need for equipment), can put our manufacturing back to work. Combine that with getting the illegals out of the workforce, and things will look different. Of course, this would require a government with some real balls, and I'm not sure that even president Bush has them - much less Congress.