In the end its all about jobs, whatever kind. But think of this, if a country goes to war, and the few factories it has are eliminated, the war is over pretty quickly. If you don't make the tools that are used to make things, its not like you are going to all the sudden be able to make them. Its hopefully a remote possibility for any country, but while there is economic power, power from abundance of food, power from the existing military, if there is little manufacturing capability there is no resupply, no prolonged ability to fight back. But the war planners in the nuclear countries have a solution to that, and it is to go nuclear when they run out of their military gear, then that whole MAD thing comes into play. Lack of manufacturing may not be a good thing in more ways than one thinks.