Whenever my Dad and I spoke of politics, he would always tell me that if I wasn't part of the process, I had no right to complain. I believe this certainly applies to the recent elections-if you didn't vote, you can't complain.

A recent white paper from Flinchbaugh Engineering Inc. (York, PA) reminded me of this lesson. The paper deals with the "the good, the bad, the ugly and the alternative" to offshore manufacturing, especially in China. The paper points out that the decline in discrete manufacturing jobs is, at least in part, attributable to moving jobs overseas. The decline has been occurring during the past 40 years, but has accelerated in the past decade.