By Dan Breznitz, EETimes (May 1, 2020)
The unfolding Covid-19 crisis exposed America’s significant economic and security vulnerabilities. We no longer produce — indeed are unable to develop — many of the things we need to run a modern, prosperous economy. From swabs, facial masks, drugs and ventilators to simple computers to advance 5G telecommunication products, we are largely dependent on overseas suppliers. The supply networks that underpin both the production and innovation of those goods long ago moved from the U.S. to Greater China. In so doing, that exodus left us with hollowed-out capabilities, broken production capacities, underutilized engineering and technical talent as well over-reliance on one relatively small region of the world.
This is precisely why the pandemic might be our last opportunity to regain prosperity. In the last two decades we have been lulled into following a specific path of financialization-induced offshoring. The huge short-term profits, coupled with the impressive decrease in the prices of consumer goods, soothed us to such degree that we lost sight of the critical requirements of a vibrant economy.