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Comment by throwaway59553 | Hacker News Reader

It sure was a good idea to allow every factory to move to East Asia.

I am pretty shocked that this hasn't been more of a narrative since the PPE shortages of COVID.

I guess it's expected that the people who have been pushing the free trade globalization angle wouldn't want to turn and admit that strategy has a significant downside that's been ignored. Not to say that it doesn't have upside.

The upside is shifting resources to focus on industries with less competition like software and semiconductors. No country can sustain the current quality of life of their citizens without imports.

Our planet as a whole does, so this doesn't seem to be a universal truth.

This. I make the same argument when the question is in regards to whether a large national economy can do well in a silo. It seems to me that the U.S. is large enough to provide all types of resources, were they developed.

And combining that with the JIT, minimize inventory thing makes it just that much more fun doesn't it.

We should've invested in a strategic tennis ball reserve at the bare minimum.

Investing in creating an autarky so that you can buy as many tennis balls as you want during every black swan event?

Investing in a country so that manufactures raise the standard of living of the population, and of course the lack of dependence on foreign countries.

If all you do is exporting raw materials and import manufactured good you're a colony. There's a reason for countries like China wanted to be the manufacturing center of the world.

I think you can come up with a more intelligent reply, unless you think this is all about tennis balls.

And then there wouldn't be a shortage because western countries didn't lock down non-essentials due to covid?

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