An excellent read on US manufacturing...

[CosmicCowboy]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20101216/bs_nm/us_usa_economy_special

[Drachen]

I really enjoyed this article. Unfortunately, from the looks of the comments section, a LARGE portion of the people reading it missed the point completely, and thought that the examples used in the article were the point. LAME.

[boutons_deux]

America is run by infantile assholes corrupted and elected by and for the enrichment and protection of the privileged corporate/capitalist oligarchy.

Germany is inhabited by adults at all levels. America will never have the leadership or shared cooperation and mutual respect to pull off what Germany has in the past 10 years.

Germany EXPORTS to China, pocketing American dollars.

America IMPORTS from China, emptying American pockets.

China has a centrally run economy with enforced industrial and economic policies, that is cleaning America's clock with a currency pegged low, even when America's dollar is down.

America has a deregulated "free market" and "globalism" economy rigged and corrupted by the super-wealthy.

So, what's your solution, CC?

btw, with a hard-core public option, American small businesses could get on with creating jobs without having to face that point where they are burdened with high-cost, low-coverage health care plans other industrial countries don't screw their companies with.