at this point, it's anybody's game.
One thing about Obama that I am upset about is that he promised to double NIH funding when he entered office. Yet, it's getting more and more difficult to get NIH funding. If he's serious about his belief that high tech and science are the future of America, he better start increasing the science/high tech research funding...
Also, I simply don't agree with both candidates' goal to "bring the manufacturing job home". I think they are fighting a battle that is impossible to win. Low-end manufacturing is a field that developing and poor countries ALWAYS have advantage of. This is the natural course of event. Poor countries have cheap labor and thus ALWAYS hold the advantage over a more developed nation. China is a good example of this natural course of event. Merely a decade ago, China had the cheapest labor and thus became a huge manufacturing base. China now is losing that edge as it becomes more and more developed. I was in China a couple weeks ago and watched it on the news that Shanghai was hosting some kind of conference for Southeastern Asian nations to attract Chinese investors. Many Chinese business owners and factory managers at the meeting were thinking about out-sourcing their manufacturing to these nations because it is getting more expensive to make the products in China. These Chinese business owners are trying to lower cost by sending their manufacturing base abroad.
So in order to "keep the manufacturing jobs at home", the US and, pretty soon, China will have to go against the natural way of things. This would mean HEAVY HEAVY govn't involvement. If left alone, no factory in the US and, pretty soon, China can compete against a sweat shop somewhere in Vietnam or Africa. Everybody blames Wal-Mart for having so many cheap Chinese-made products, but Wal-Mart is simply doing what naturally business should do: lowering cost and maximize profit. If fewer people are doing business with American factories, that means these factories are losing the competitive edge. If you go to Wal-Mart now, you will see very few products with "Made in China" label. Yet, America is still losing manufacturing jobs. The manufacturing jobs are being moved from China to some other poor developing nations. there will always be more poor countries than wealthy ones.
China is blamed for their "currency manipulation" now. What if China now increases the value of Yuan as demanded by the US? You think that will solve the problem? NO! Why? Most of the manufacturing base in China is located on the East coast, where wages are getting higher and higher. If the value of Yuan appreciates, these factories will simply move inland to central and western China where it is less developed and wages are significantly lower. No one can complain about that since it is completely natural and legal to have regions to have vastly different wages within the same nation. If wages in these areas also become higher, they will move the manufacturing base to other poor countries in South East Asia and Africa, as they are doing now. In a few years, no one can blame China any more as China is already starting to out-source their manufacturing. Whom should be the scapegoat next??? If not China, it will be Vietnam, etc?
And what if the US actually manages to get all the manufacturing jobs back as intended? You think these jobs will go to the typical Americans who demand at least the minimum wage? NO!! these jobs will go to legal/illegal immigrants, i.e. the Mexicans, who would be satisfied with much lower pay. This already happened. Business is all about minimizing cost, whatever method possible. There will a few patriotic factories who would be willing to absorb the cost, but how many of these people do you expect to have? So will the typical American voters ever be satisfied and get what they want? No! This is a losing battle for the developed nations. Since economy runs well with as little govn't interference as possible, I believe that developed nations should abandon manufacturing all together and focus on the things they are good at: science, high tech, etc.