The modern decline of the West is mostly self-inflicted by the deliberate choice to move industrial capacity en-masse to developing countries with only empty promises of service/knowledge economies as replacements. Obviously Romans didn't have the capacity to do such a thing.
Is the promised service economy actually an instance of bureauc…
The modern decline of the West is mostly self-inflicted by the deliberate choice to move industrial capacity en-masse to developing countries with only empty promises of service/knowledge economies as replacements. Obviously Romans didn't have the capacity to do such a thing.
Is the promised service economy actually an instance of bureaucratic proliferation? Look at "policy" jobs, explosion in consulting and mundane subjects gaining full-scale academic standing... See what it takes to get even an unskilled job: a course in holding a Stop/Slow sign, a ladder-usage license!
Some movement away from manufacturing was inevitable: it was going to move to where labour was both cheap and productive enough. But some was also dysfunctional policy and regulation.
But a lot of the growth in management and consultancies is clearly parasitical.
Not all manufacturing is equal - compare rustbelt smokestacks vs microchip foundries. Most of the world's supply of chips comes from the now-precarious Formosan location. Absolutely unforgivable for USGov to allow such strategic and commercially valuable industries to move offshore. Given the current German Wagenkrise its a wonder why the country didn't invest in such a high tech industry. Even closer to home look at how persistently Australian govts have refused to value-add onshore and expatriate raw resources cheaply.
Australia is always going to have an uphill battle with manufacturing: too dispersed. Mass bulk works better for our location and population patterns than more complicated economies of scale. Niche manufacturing has more of a chance. But State Governments rationing land use for revenue reasons do not help.
The modern decline of the West is mostly self-inflicted by the deliberate choice to move industrial capacity en-masse to developing countries with only empty promises of service/knowledge economies as replacements. Obviously Romans didn't have the capacity to do such a thing.
Is the promised service economy actually an instance of bureaucratic proliferation? Look at "policy" jobs, explosion in consulting and mundane subjects gaining full-scale academic standing... See what it takes to get even an unskilled job: a course in holding a Stop/Slow sign, a ladder-usage license!
Some movement away from manufacturing was inevitable: it was going to move to where labour was both cheap and productive enough. But some was also dysfunctional policy and regulation.
But a lot of the growth in management and consultancies is clearly parasitical.
Not all manufacturing is equal - compare rustbelt smokestacks vs microchip foundries. Most of the world's supply of chips comes from the now-precarious Formosan location. Absolutely unforgivable for USGov to allow such strategic and commercially valuable industries to move offshore. Given the current German Wagenkrise its a wonder why the country didn't invest in such a high tech industry. Even closer to home look at how persistently Australian govts have refused to value-add onshore and expatriate raw resources cheaply.
Australia is always going to have an uphill battle with manufacturing: too dispersed. Mass bulk works better for our location and population patterns than more complicated economies of scale. Niche manufacturing has more of a chance. But State Governments rationing land use for revenue reasons do not help.