this post was submitted on 18 May 2025
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Economics
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It also takes the manpower. Americans really like sitting in cushy offices whenever possible, or being in service roles in general. Manufacturing is like, hard, and not fun, and you can't scroll on Insta while you're making shit.
The manpower is there and will be driven by necessity and availability. There's nothing to suggest that manpower is inherently different, the goat herders and lavender farmers do their work manually not because they're stupid or hard working, but that it's the best available job. You might have some whining in between though, that's what the protests and fascism is about.
In some sense, high paying tech/service jobs are just leveraging infrastructure (of communications, education, networking, political stability, power, etc.) to create the high profits enabling the cushiness of workplace.
Manufacturing doesn't require that. It might be that with the plan signalled in the intense government (which is the main driver of infrastructure) cuts, there will be no other option in about 10-15 years time. Or at least with a larger class divide where only the rich can afford education and living in well maintained cities (kind of like Silicon Valley come to think of it).
The strange thing is that it also generates less wealth, meaning less money for the rich folks to get rich off of. Is it just short sighted, or do they have a planned exit?