I have 15 years experience working in high tech electronics manufacturing (for a global firm with factories around the world, including in the US and China) and can tell you the most difficult thing to manage is the supply chain. For time as much as cost, but if you have to ship a $.10 component 6000 miles to get it to a factory, it's pretty dang inefficient.
replyThat said, you're right about cultivating new experience in younger generations. It's probably not surprising to hear that the majority of factory workers in the US are GenX or older.
Not just experienced staff but an entire ecosystem of supporting startups, industry, talent, and infrastructure around the main fabs.
replyYou forgot education in your list, which the current administration is also at odds with.
replyWhat are the current administration's education policies that you think will have the most negative impact on our domestic manufacturing capabilities?
replyNuking international students and then making it so they can't stay after getting degrees here is one huge issue: https://www.piie.com/publications/policy-briefs/2026/class-d...
replya huge amount of American graduated aren't able to find work after graduation with a significant number of jobs going to foreigners. that seems problematic to me we should be putting Americans first not importing people to do the job they spent years training for.
replyThere's an odd idea that increasing the number of educated people in the country makes it harder to find jobs. Where is it easiest to find software jobs? Probably san francisco. You'd think it'd be easiest in some small town in idaho where you'd be the only software developer, right? You'd have no competition! But instead it's the easiest where all the other software developers are. The causation is two-way. Software developers go to san francisco because that's where jobs are, and companies start in san francisco because that's where software developers are.
replyThat's agglomeration effects, and it disproves the idea on its own. If america is the place where all the talented engineers and scientists go, that is a very very good thing for engineers and scientists in america. Or you are free to go try to be an engineer or scientist in estonia, and see if you make more money due to the lack of competition. (Most top engineering and science talent in estonia leaves for other countries, which by your logic should be amazing for the remaining domestic talent.)
but wouldn't that give more opportunities for local students? The disadvantage is, they come, learn, leave, and take what they've learned to benefiting a competing nation, sort of training your replacement. Also, there is the security and IP theft aspect. What are the benefits?
reply> The H-1B serves mainly to retain workers already here, not
to recruit them from outside
replythat article looks like full of bs