Questionable Answers....

My thinking lately has been on the price of fuel. I wrote earlier in this blog that I thought China had come to the manufacturing game too late. It should be able to supply itself with consumer goods. But its distance from the US markets could make the cost of transporting goods the prohibitive portion of the total cost. Also that in the US, a regional manufacturing paradigm may have to come into being. Transportation will become the deciding factor of the logistics of distribution.
I may be simplifying this a little but...it is something to think about...does this fuel increase make the resurgence of manufacturing in the US doable in the future?

One more thing on the China juggernaut. The ignored fact that they are degrading their environment on an unprecedented scale. This neglect will have to be faced in the near future. I do not believe that there is a river in China now that does not dry up at some time in the year. The waters are very polluted.

China's manufacturing has been growing a conservative 10% a year. This growth has fueled a middle class growth with expectations of a clean, healthy environment (clean air, clean water, proper disposal of toxic wastes) for their families to be raised in. It is this middle class that will force the Government to face the cleanup issues in the near future. This cleanup will be expensive and may slow down the growth curve we are seeing now.