There is a book written by Andrew Liveris(An Australian) who is the current Chairman and CEO of the Dow Chemical Company called "Make it in America"- A Case for reinventing the Economy" where he highlights the countries that are wealthy and will become wealthy are the ones that actually make things e.g. China, Taiwan, Japan,Germany and even Brazil and India. He is head the Obama task force that has been charged with recreating the US manufacturing industry. He laments the translation from a manufacturing driven economy to a service-based economy(sound familiar?) and the fact that the middle class have been decimated. He speaks of Government policy being the main driver in the demise. The US, like Australia, has an almost hostile approach to manufacturing and such things as corporate taxes and energy costs are the main culprits. Andrew says the US government should and they are provide subsidies against energy costs which means a reversal of this manic push to privitise everything and move to be able to have a platform where industry are allowed to get on with it and the emphasis should be on innovation and education in the engineering areas(no not financial engineering, we have had enough of that!). Engineers build things as opposed to Accountants.Maybe Australia would do well to engage Andrew and bring him home before this gets ugly.