The Big Physics is that labor is a lot cheaper in Asia (particularly China, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Indonesia, etc.) than it is here. Americans don't want to pay a lot for everyday items like casual clothing, small electronics, compact cars. etc., so we buy them from overseas, or from US companies that outsource to overseas producers. I will bet that a significant proportion of what goes into our military aircraft, fighting vehicles and other armaments is produced overseas.

This is a natural evolution. Americans--including you and I--don't want to work cheap anymore, nor should we. As a people, we spent decades building a better way of life and we're not going to turn back. Every time management asks employees for givebacks so "we can compete with Asia," I want to ask the bosses if they'd be willing to accept cutbacks in their salaries, bonuses and stock options so they can be paid like their management counterparts overseas. And we don't want to pay more to have stuff made in America that can be made cheaper (and sometimes better) overseas. We do best what we do best here, especially high-tech stuff.