On MSNBC.COM yesterday I saw a VERY surprising fact.

Who do you think is #1 in manufacturing?

Hints: $1.7T (yes, Trillion) in manufacturing output. #1 is a full 40% higher than #2.

#1 - The United States of America
#2 - The People's Republic of China

My wife immediately asked how this could be when we buy so much cheap crap from China. The gist of the article says that China makes cheap crap while we build jet airplanes and the like.

The proposition in the article is that *automation* has killed far more manufacturing jobs than 'outsourcing'.