Yes it should have been "10000 boses if packed full" but that doesn't make the cost of an ocean voyage is the determining factor in why manufacturing moves to China
US manufacturing output is still the largest and American manufacturing employees are the most productive the productive output per manufacturing job in the US is much higher than anywhere else
So why is that?
US workers may be quite competent but the real reason is that the playing field is tipped so that we now have a situation where only goods that require the minimum human input are Made in the USA
Is that healthy?
And could the equation be changed so that other factors (like transportation costs) weigh more heavily?
No, it means that the ocean effectively doesn't exist for any reasonable level of fuel costs, so the playing field is more level.
Partly because American companies make many high technology items such as aircraft- which require a lot of highly skilled and highly paid workers. Partly because US workers put in more hours than Europeans so even though they may lag, say, the French in $ added per hour, they work more hours in a year. Partly because "productivity" is measured in a dumb-a** manner- if you close down a factory and just box up cheap imported stuff your "productivity" will soar. Fewer employees, more $ markup per hour => more "productivity". The companies with the highest "productivity" don't really do much- maybe manage a gas pipeline with all the real work outsourced. You can get to millions of dollars per employee revenue that way. Lay off your tech support workers Bill and Charlie, and let Rajiv and Baljinder in Bangalore do the work at 1/5 the cost, and your manufacturing "productivity" increases.
Time will tell. Very few of us work on farms anymore but there's more than enough food for all (and enough left over to use as an export as aid, or as a weapon).
Sure, the market can be distorted in any number of ways, most of which have been tried at one time or another, but high fuel costs are not a natural way to favor domestic production over overseas production.
What it would favor is efficiency and long term viability
The market has been distorted as it stands by treating fuel and energy costs as sacred cows and treating human costs like they were sinful
And yes most of the productivity gains are by sleight of hand Factories that package foreign goods instead of making goods hiring temps instead of permanent employees and out-sourcing the work that could be done in house as cheap all are designed to make it appear greater production is achieved with fewer workers
But what does that smoke and mirrors gain in the long term?
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