@ Steve,
US went overseas because the US financed it. It took UK manufacturing with it once the ball got going. With the USA managing all the armies in the Orient outside China and Russia, what were the eastern countries going to spend money on?
As for Mafiosi running unions. The fact is that once a section of a community gets used to a certain lifestyle, it's nearly impossible to make them revert to suit market forces.
Look what happened after the full tilt production and high wages of coal miners in WW 1. As soon as production was cut back, the management expected the miners to take massive reductions in salaries.
And they wouldn't do it. So customers went abroad. It's as simple as that. When did the USA start seriously looking at small cars? Or high quality production?
Just like us in the UK: never.
It's only due to the fact that the USA spawned the oriental car markets that they still have an auto industry. And it's only because the Japanese have an interest in Europe, that Britain has one.
It has almost nothing to do with unions. (Unless you count the fact that management couldn't force individuals to take pay cuts.) Wait and see what happens in the wonderful world wide web when market forces do more than shift help desks overseas.
I can't see Intel or other huge code writing companies relying on western resource pools. Google doesn't, unless you count the free software they use. Complex, is it knot?