OT
The drain you speak of is only a relative one, and only a very slight or slow relative drain at that. In 2007 (picked to ignore cyclic effects, and also because I think its the last year for which the data is in), we manufactured more than in any other year in US history. Also much more was manufactured in the US than any other country, and our percentage hasn't had a great decline recently.
If you think 2007 is cherry picking because the level is lower now, then we can compare 2009 to the depths of the last deep recession (early 80s), and while the data isn't in yet there is little doubt that the US manufactures more now.
People look at the decline in manufacturing employment, or in the fates of some traditional large manufacturers, and so they see a decline that isn't reflective of manufacturing in the US. Or they look at the growth in China, and so see a relative decline for the US, that doesn't reflect the US relative to the whole world, but rather only to the number one large country at increasing manufacturing production over the years.
Beyond all that, even if there was a real manufacturing decline in the US, there isn't any good reason to think that import barriers would be very effective at stopping it. |
