>I don't know why you guys are getting so touchy. A couple of predictions, since this seems to be the place for them:
>
>1) The days of incredibly cheap goods from China are numbered. China is going to start focusing on quality, value for $ and high tech, just as the US did so successfully 50 years ago.

Add to that the continuing devaluation of the $

>2) US manufacturing and export is about to undergo a renaissance. "Buy USA" will be a popular theme before you know it, based on enthusiastic innovation, durability and top quality. We're about to re-learn what our grandparents knew: it's better to buy one really good pair of shoes that lasts 5 years than 3 cheap pairs that fall apart in 6 months.

I don't see the enough of the "good shoemakers" needed for the fixup of the expensive shoes needed after 2 and 4 years. But I see a shift to agriculture coming and US has a wide range of climate zones and is less populated than europe for instance.