'Made in America' tech not an impossible dream

Conventional wisdom says that American labor costs so much it can't compete with Chinese and other Asian sources. Conventional wisdom says that American companies can't ramp up as effectively -- or hire new, willing and able workers as quickly -- as in China. Conventional wisdom is an ass.

Matt Burns at TechCrunch reports that the backs of some new ultra-thin iMacs identify the machines as assembled in the USA. Apple has yet to comment on the findings, but there's no denying the cost of labor in China is soaring. Business Insider just published a graph that shows hourly manufacturing costs in China are up 23 percent this year compared to last year, and The Economist quotes an American contract manufacturing expert in China as saying, "Labor costs have surged by 20 percent a year for the past four years." In fact, the price of labor is increasing so quickly that many Chinese firms are experimenting with production facilities outside of China to take advantage of lower labor costs.