Manufacturing jobs

A recent argument broke out in the press about a long running ideology: that America needs manufacturing. 

The most recent effusion came from Andy Grove arguing that manufacturing provides jobs for the kind of people who are out of work right now in the U.S.

The trouble is that Andy Grove forgets his own history.  Intel rapidly moved its factories to Idaho, Arizona, Colorado and Oregon.  At that point they had run out of Americans willing to work hard.  I'm serious.  They ran out of Americans willing to do careful, precise work and work hard.

So Intel, and many others moved manufacturing to Taiwan, China, Singapore and other parts of Asia. It was not the wages, it was the ability of the employees to work hard and care about their work.

Some auto makers have found hard working manual laborers in the U.S. south where there are no labor unions.  But that market is nearly exhausted.

Let us be frank.  When the military abandoned a gigantic airfield and base in Alameda in the middle of Oakland, nobody in their right mind suggested that it become a center of manufacturing. The number of competent hard working potential employees in Oakland is nil.  Nearly an entire city with few people willing to work hard.  An entire city that is looking for a bureaucratic government retirement posting.  Just like most of the rest of urban America.

You think this sounds racist?  Then explain why the Nummi automobile plant failed last year. 

Toyota wanted to manufacture autos in the U.S. and try their very successful management skills.  For political reasons, Toyota joined up with GM to open the experimental Nummi plant.

Nummi failed for one reason: the unionized labor force was stupid.  The labor force was so stupid that when GM pulled out of the plant (to cover union retirement funds in Detroit) the remaining labor force refused to lower wages to keep the plant running.  Having no jobs was better than cutting wages.  That is the labor force we have in the U.S. and why manufacturing long ago moved elsewhere.

We might need manufacturing but the point is moot.  We don't have manufacturing workers.