As Len alludes to in his post above, people who work sheltered in the regulated utility industry have no clue what it's like to work in the electronics industry. I do, and its history is founded on continuous technological advancement, originally started in California's Silicon Valley. Competition is viewed in this industry as a good thing because it routinely emerges to take advantage of the next breakthrough or cost reduction, and has resulted in unparalleled innovation and industry growth over the last four decades. The ability today to put a computer, cell phone, video camera, and GPS in a single hand-held smart phone device has absolutely nothing to do with the absence of government regulation of the IT industry. The auto industry has not enjoyed the same technological pace of change, aside from primarily the introduction of more electronics in automobiles.

Competition becomes scary when it eats away at our traditionally high-paying manufacturing jobs WITHOUT help from government and WITHOUT the technological advancements to rely upon to reinvent products with. The clothing industry is a great example that Len refers to. The well-known jeans-wear company Levis closed their last plant in Ontario about 6 or 7 years ago, and it made news headlines because it was the last textile sewing plant in North America to shutter. If I were the authors of this blog, I would start praying the government does whatever it can to help our North American auto industry, for the same fate could some day happen to it too.