[quote=sreeb][quote=Hobie]
Great perspective Sreeb. But without manufacturing what are our options? We n e e d manufactuing[/quote]

I don’t see how this can end well. I don’t see how we will able to muddle through either.

I think our governments current policy of ever higher deficit spending will crash the dollar (intentionally?) and help out with a massive devaluation but it will be really painful ($20/gallon gas?, everything in Walmart up by 5x?) The problem with that is that it implies high inflation without wage inflation resulting in a huge reduction in our standard of living. But we will be more competitive.

Or we can try massive protectionism? If congress can require you to buy health insurance, they can probably require you to buy a Buick, even if you don’t want one and didn’t intend to buy a car at all.

I expect to buy a lot less stuff in the future and I expect to be OK with that.

We are going to live in very interesting times.[/quote]
When it comes to technology, it’s not so cut and dry. There are many options. One being acquisitions.

There is a golden rule about innovation, which is usually after a company has a one-hit, innovation again usually happens elsewhere.

Tech companies really only grow via acquisitions…Because one company can seldomly have success after success in the stuff it creates itself no can it really sustain itself unless it happens to be in a special predicament of having almost monopoly (such as intel, microsoft, or qualcomm)…So it doesn’t really matter if a key technology is initially developed in China/Taiwan/Kore/etc. The key, is who ends up purchasing that asset. Once purchased, the know-how trickles down the company, and as a multi-national, that benefits everyone (some more than others).

Fact Check: Intel, for instance, was in it’s death-spiral with it’s original Pentinum design. The multicore processor design came from an Israeli design team.