Alan Tonelson: 'The Insourcing Boom That Isn't'

Alan Tonelson: 'The Insourcing Boom That Isn't'

by James Fallows

The current issue of our magazine (subscribe!) has a two-part cover-story package. One is Charles Fishman's "The Insourcing Boom," which concentrates on GE and argues that U.S.-based manufacturing companies are finding it more attractive to do more of their work within our borders. The other is my "Mr. China Comes to America," which says that increasing costs and friction of doing business in China, and shifts in technology that allow very rapid-cycle production close to the market inside the United States, will encourage new companies to do more of their manufacturing work here rather than outsourcing it to China.

Alan Tonelson, of the US Business & Industry Council, is a long-time friend with whom I have often agreed on questions of U.S.-Japanese trade frictions. He completely disagrees with the premise of these two articles. In the spirit of free-and-full discussion, I turn the floor over to him. I have a brief response at the end. http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/12/alan-tonelson-the-insourcing-boom-that-isnt/266261/