Greed and lack of vision is partly responsible. I don't know what German Govt taxes are or insurance requirements but wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't more stringent than that of U.S.
Check this vid out. Mind blowing stuff - like, investing in their young workers, training, training and training, keeping their skilled workers on despite grim economic times so that when that cycle turns, you've got skilled up workers ready to go. Note the attitude of the owners too. PRIDE! Pride in their achievements and a belief in what they do is for the betterment of not just them, but the city/town they're based in (community) and its employees.
In my country, the 'experts said that manufacturing was a sunset industry, that we're too expensive to produce goods. The Govt bought into this mindset and sold this propaganda as part of their macro-economic policy- and with only little encouragement, local business sought to outsource and off-shore to maximise profit (this was back when footage of out of workers cried about their loyalty to company). The parent brand company remaining based in some corporate premise but manufacturing now completely overseas.
Now we're left with a services industry (you want fries with that?) and an economy that is over dependent on exporting minerals. The Germans understand - true wealth is producing something tangible. The Chinese are on to it. They get it.
The U.S still retains huge industrial capacity and latent capability to grow. I don't think the U.S will be completely hollowed out manufacturing wise because of threat of loss of IP (at least in the high end/niche industry). Generally speaking (Germany appears to be exception), the West has lost its way. Somehow, there became a belief that we could move 'dirty' industries abroad and be totally about the 'knowledge' economy which was to elevate all and sundry.
Funny thing happened. Outsourcing started to occur in the 'knowledge' economy as well. Many entry level jobs started going overseas to the sub-continent (India/Pakistan) - and bit by bit, the lower accesses of our skills/employment pyramid have been stripped away. Those jobs down the totem were gateways for people to skill themselves up through experience and on the job training. Now those jobs are OS; these days in the Philippines as much as the Sub-continent. My other half is a scientist. She says they now ship samples to South Korea, because it's cheaper to do so. Insane. This sort of stupidity leads to brain drain (go OS to make a living) and a decrease in ability create the sort of tech miracles that give birth to new industries.
To sustain high tech industries, you need intellectual capital. You need a base from which industry can draw upon. If you gut the career 'way stations', and feeder streams (those techs that process samples), you create a situation where there becomes a negative feed back loop. Less people get into science because there are too few jobs. Too few people mean less intellectual capital to draw upon, meaning less chance to develop the capacity for industry to sustain itself in any meaningful way. The only way to survive is to be drip fed through Govt initiatives.
You can apply the above to any so-called value add knowledge industry (ICT for example). On the latter, when you can't find enough people to do the job immediately, set up a visa program to fast track foreigners into the market - depressing salaries so as to make it an unattractive profession to get into. The Govt rather than identifying a shortfall in meeting industry requirements, went down the lack of vision path. There will be too few kids coming through the pipeline to be the technologists of the future. It will all be done overseas or by imports. One day, that won't be sustainable.
This is Australia. We don't lead. We follow. We do what we're told. The people have far too much faith in Govt to deliver the future. We are a nation of fools, led by fools. I find it immensely frustrating because we are so capable. I work with and for people who are clued in. My missus works with some amazing people. The latent talent is there. We are missing a vision. We are missing the big picture. We are weighed down by modern thought (endless deconstruction), fuckwit wishy washy leftist pigs who'd rather not believe in manifesting national potential because national interest and borders are 'imperialistic, racist and give rise to neo-colonial aspirations' and perhaps there is a legacy of our British origins, with hints of a national inferiority complex. As a nation, we just can't ******* achieve escape velocity.
, taxes and insurance requirements have done a tremendous toll.
