Bruce Greenwald: Death of Manufacturing

I found the following video from an embedded link on the Columbia University website. Bruce Greenwald describes the death of manufacturing and the global deflation:- 



He makes perfectly valid points. But it is interesting to hear that agriculture is finished. New Zealand is a country that relies on agricultural exports. Oh no, are we in trouble or what? Then we have manufacturing, New Zealand is a bit anaemic there, but that too is finished. Again, oh no.

But something he may have overlooked - productivity gains are still achievable in both agriculture and manufacturing. The answer I think lies in automation. Machines making other machines and machines doing the actual farming and manufacturing. Then the next development is machines deciding what to produce and when and in what quantities.

But where Greenwald nails it, is talking about the structure of an economy. Getting the structure right is key, and New Zealand needs to look at it as their structure is weak. NZ is vulnerable, it's just that it dodged the bullet back in 2008/09.