tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11110174.post7896502044673030004..comments2024-02-26T23:17:11.132+13:00Comments on Blessed Economist: Trade WarsRon McKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03989126812730583009noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11110174.post-7423273564079159142018-04-05T15:41:35.927+12:002018-04-05T15:41:35.927+12:00You said: "High-income countries have to con...You said: "High-income countries have to concentrate on the highly-technical and capital-intensive manufacturing where they have an advantage. The United States has done well in this area, but it needs to do better because many blue-collar workers in the US are still directly competing with cheap labour in Asia."<br /><br />The trouble with moving manufacturing off-shore to take advantage of low labour costs in foreign countries is this: <br /><br />It disturbs the development cycle of producing new talented engineers that design the technologies of tomorrow. Most tech firms derive their new talent for their design offices from the engineers that cut their teeth on their manufacturing production lines. <br /><br />Moving these lines offshore means that other countries' young engineers gain this learning instead. In this way, knowledge is inadvertently exported. Long term competitive advantage is therefore traded for a relatively short term profit gain. Short sighted.Kublai7777https://www.blogger.com/profile/06280358484984982599noreply@blogger.com