Is the US rethinking some values?

As a foreigner visiting the US in previous years, one of the things that struck me was how important it was to make price as low as possible. It was obvious to me that the focus on lowest-price resulted in US jobs being outsourced to low-cost countries, and the local manufacturing sector being decimated. But the US population seemed prepared to accept the trade-off.

I am beginning now to detect a change in attitudes. Three recent articles have proposed the view that the US take manufacturing seriously again.

MIT president argues for return of U.S. manufacturing

Manufacturing’s wake-up call

How Manufacturing Can Attract Young Talent Again

The correlation of manufacturing with innovation and growth is strongly noted, as is the need to attract young people back into manufacturing.

For the sake of the US and world economy, I hope decision- and policy-makers take these views seriously. Low prices aren’t everything.