Notice that all of the sectors you mentioned (with the arguable exception of entertainment) are non-tradable across national boundaries, meaning they’re not going to help the US trade deficit one bit. And our entertainment is probably going to lose its lustre overseas over the coming years as India and China develop and produce their own. If we lose our ability to produce REAL products for export (things like aircraft, electronics, and heavy equipment), those high-paid attorneys and financial professionals you mention will eventually be joining their laid-off engineer neighbors in the soup lines. The only hope for the US is to regain our position as a world leader in technology. If I were in charge, I’d start pouring R&D money into alternative sources of energy and new engine technologies. That’s unlikely to happen, though, so in the meantime you might learn Mandarin Chinese and pursue a career as a liason to help Chinese companies get their products to American markets. Or learn Portugese and start a software contracting business in Brazil that can work even cheaper than the Indians. Think internationally.
