We need Manufacturing and Engineering jobs

A few days ago as I was driving to one of my customers when a radio program caught my attention. The discussion was around the problems of the unemployed, especially young people. The panel consisted of Politicians,Economists and so called experts in this field. The overall concerns were that we were likely to loose a whole generation of people whom at best would never reach their potential and at worst never have a job.
The debate continued with politicians on all sides making claims and counter claims regarding what they were doing, how much they were spending and slagging off the other side for not doing enough. Other organisations were dreaming up all sorts of schemes and training programs.
Out of frustration I could have ripped the radio out of its bracket, why on earth could they not identify the real problem nor see the obvious solution. Why was it so difficult to see?
All we need to do is create more jobs, jobs, jobs!
Over the last 20/30 years our country has gradually but steadily killed off manufacturing and engineering and replaced this with financial services.
I have no need to retell the disasters of the last few years and what the financial industries have done to our country, but I know that most of my engineering colleagues saw this coming a very long time ago.
Manufacturing, Engineering, the skill of making things will provide work for men and women of all ages and abilities. From making tea, sweeping the floor to design engineers, managers and even those financial people who have fallen from our favour.
Over recent years the trend has been to source products from places like China under the miss conception that we are only outsourcing the none skilled labour and it is cheaper but we are not only exporting the jobs desperately needed by our own people we are also exporting our know-how, innovations and technologies(the family silver) that will likely change our standard of living, culture and freedoms that we so dearly value.
Countries with advanced technologies are powerful in many ways. They can provide good social welfare, education, high standards of living and a system of fairness and of course those desperately important jobs for our young people.
We need those in government and industry to have some passion about making things and embrace technology for good purposes. Making things that people really need, products to help us fight against global warming, technologies that save lives and help those in third world countries where clean water is a rare and precious resource. We are not starved of problems to resolve and things to make.
We still have time to save and rebuild our manufacturing industries all we need is the passion and commitment to do it.