[Ed Hubbard]

Jeez, I love this thread (hope no one deletes it)!

Couple of points to ponder (I take no sides in this, I just want you to consider the data).

First, I've been on many plant tours in Mexico and walked in the park in Mexico city on Sunday and I think most of you would be shocked at what I saw. What I saw were mother mary's in many of the factories and the park *full* of families on Sunday trying to be, well, families. Human beings are fundamentally 99.999% identical from a DNA perspective. The only thing that makes us different in most cases it an accident of birth. You simply cannot travel abroad, see how the rest of the planet lives & works and hate them for what they are trying to do! We are by far the richest country in the world and as I said in my post way back on the first page, we are going to feel the rest of these people trying to live a better life.

Second, I think you are all discounting the effeciency of the US. By far, we are the freeest country in the world in which Adam Smith's invisible hand can work its magic. As farming was in decline, the economy was very busy for decades reinventing itself as a manufacturing economy. Long before manufacturing was in decline the services industries were growing up along with tech. As individuals we just can't see all the micro moves that are happening but I would NEVER bet against the US long-term, never.