^Not for low cost goods mass production.
Perhaps if like the Germans, we only concentrated on the very high end of manufacturing we might of had a shot at holding onto 5% unemployment.
But that German model requires a very different level of investment in education. They also have a mixture of public and private options when it comes to healthcare, a big advantage that allows more money to be poured into the quality of the product. German factories pay their workers well north of $14 an hour but guess what? Their employers aren't completely footing the bill for their healthacare. Now they're one of the few surpluss nations in trade. Turns out a highly skilled, highly educated and healthy workforce can deal with $2 an hour Chinese labor pretty well since they are selling to two completely different customers. You'll never beat the Chinese selling $4 ipods (that retail for $300), $5 hammers and $10 sneakers.
p.s.
I see you guys voted out Rep. Alan Grayson in Orlando. While being perhaps the biggest jerk in the House he's also BY FAR the smartest elected official in the state of Florida. A Bronx public school kid who graduated Phi Beta Kappa with three Harvard degrees, including clerking for the D.C. court of appeals no less and became a self-made millionaire 30 times over who moved for an first ever audit of the Fed. And in his place is an incoming 30 year career politician churned out by the state political machine?
Here's a great clip of Grayson calling out Bernanke on his bull****************.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0NYBTkE1yQ&feature=youtu.be