Jim Manzi is a thinker/writer who often has interesting things to say; see for example his piece What Social Science Does–and Doesn’t–Know. He has a new series at NRO about U.S. manufacturing competitiveness: why it matters, and how it can be improved. Here are the first two posts: Part 1, and Part 2. As additional posts are added, they will be easily findable via googling.
See also my post Faux Manufacturing Nostalgia, which is about cultural influences on the situation of U.S. manufacturing; also A Manufacturing Renaissance?
Related post from George Savage, co-founder of Proteus Biomedical.
See today’s post from Bill Waddell: leeches, techies, and wealth creators
http://www.evolvingexcellence.com/blog/2011/06/sorting-out-a-few-issues.html