>...higher-level innovation? Ironically, factory owners said that's happening where the industry is — overseas.
I don't think there's anything ironic about this. Innovation happens close to the product, where you can get a true understanding of what you're doing and what the process is. We see this in projects gone awry all the time - until you're sitting at your desk working on the project, you don't know what the problem space actually is.
In addition to all the obvious problems with the dismantling of America's manufacturing capacity, I think this is one of the real, critical, and silent issues - for a country that keeps touting innovation, not a lot of that happens here... apart from industries where there still is a strong manufacturing core in the country. The mercantilist rhetoric about buy American is stupid, but so is the blind faith that global capitalism won't destroy the ground it's built on.