Manufacturing in the U.S.

...is a bad idea.

Today, on Morning Sedition, the Marks reported that John Kerry wanted to encourage manufacturing in the U.S.  They thought that this was a great idea.  "And," they said, "it isn't as though you can pay an American worker the same amount you would pay a worker on an assembly line in Beijing.  No, here in America you have to pay a living wage."

Do they not notice the fundamental contradiction between these two thoughts?

America has less manufacturing than lesser-developed nations because, for the most part, Americans are too valuable to 'waste' in that matter...one of the reasons why America is leading in the service industries.  Our labor is valuable...you want to make sure that we get the most bang for our buck.

On a related note:
When someone close to me went to Cuba, he was shocked, shocked, that, when something like a cheap toaster broke down, his hosts would take it to be repaired.  The repairman would spend an hour to repair it.  The repairman's labor was infinitely cheaper than the $10 toaster. 

In Cuba, labor is cheap and goods are expensive.

In America, it is the other way around.  That's something to be happy about.