re: #484 Obdicut

one that is actually larger than it ever has been before,

Yes, it is larger. But the GDP is larger also. So it is larger, but a much smaller % of our GDP. When you simply say that the output is greater, that obscures other factors. As I recall, as a percentage of total worldwide output the % has remained constant - which means that the problems are not exclusive to U.S. manufacturers, but a global issue in the industry as a whole.

Manufacturing has shrunk relative to other economic sectors. Manufacturing has been in trouble for a while, and it has huge obstacles in the future. The job loses are there in absolute terms, but in terms of a % of overall employment, it has dropped by an even greater amount. And that loss of % of overall employment is not simply due to technological advances, it is due to many factors, including large-scale shifts in how manufacturers structure their businesses at the most fundamental levels.