[DGthe3]

Originally Posted by hot_rod

>technology leader - I don't know, maybe so. Depends on how you measure it. By some we are,..... some we aren't.

>Manufacturing cost - yep, Rule #1 - you can't beat Walmart or China on cost. That is not going to change anytime in the the near future.

>Defense - yep, want proof? - google "buy America". Legislation that requires manufacturing by American companies for defense and homeland security. Numbers tossed around are 50%, it doesn't matter we can't do it. We don't have the manufacturing capability anymore and it is a national security issue, IMO.

> final frontier - In a year NASA will be a shell of what it once was. The shuttle program is ending. Reported this week, NASA's priority is outreach to the Muslim countries. Huh, WTF?

> China not ready...yet - the key word here is "yet". Some old statistics to show "yet" is getting very close....

*China Express highways:
168 miles in ’89
18,500 in ’03
51,000 in ’08
(vs. U.S. Interstate: 46,500)
When the Silk Road Gets Paved”/Forbes Global/09.04

That is the equivalent of paving 1 Houston a month.

*60,000 New factories in China opened by foreigners/2000-2003/
Edward Gresser, Progressive Policy Institute/Wall Street Journal 09.27.04

That's a new factory every 26 minutes!

The world I have lived in for the last half century plus is undergoing a huge transformation. Chinese components in my Camaro are just part of this change.

Actually ... China's costs have gone up significantly in recent years and more and more companies are looking to other nations for cheap labour. Some say that Mexico and China are nearly equal on build cost now, but transportation speed and cost from Mexico to North or South America is significantly less than from China.