Sure, that is easy for you to say in your mother's basement.
Our technology has progressed enough that we can make most things locally if we really wanted to. Our culture in North America is not one of continuous improvement so we've stagnated and found the easy way out - offshore to cultures that want to improve.
I believe this is a general trend of globalization, which is mainly driven by us, because we want the cheapest and then someone has to produce that cheapest product by pushing outsourcing to the point where we rely on few places. Personally, if I knew that a product is REALLY only made in the US/UK/Europe etc, I would buy it, even if it was more expensive. Not because I dislike Asia or whatever distant part of the world, but because I want with my behavior to enforce resilience, the very opposite of absolute reliance.
I agree. What I don't understand is how most of these high-tech manufactures use automated equipment now...so why is it offshored, where's the savings? I thought it was labor savings as the push for lower cost. Isn't it actually more expensive to manufacture farther away from your customer? Is it our antiquated accounting philosophy has hidden this cost by favoring standard costing methods?
"Take that, you hostile sons-of-bitches!" -- James Coburn, in the finale of _The_President's_Analyst_
