Suppose automation brings manufacturing back to the U.S. What happens to all the Asian manufacturing countries who can't employ their people? I think the U.S. has a lot of figuring out to do to figure out how people can get along without jobs if automation can handle most of the labor, but I think the vacuum left in the export countries would be a more immediate problem.
Not that I'm against it. I've always thought robots doing all our work for us would be fabulous. I don't need a job to fulfill myself, but as of this moment I need one to feed, house and dress myself for about the next 10 years or so.