Much has been written about the decline of manufacturing and the demise of General Motors highlights the problem. Which makes the observations in Robert Reich's blog on the future of manufacturing.

Reich argues that the bailout of GM is just buying time. It won't create jobs and it won't save GM. Manufacturing jobs are disappearing around the world and there's nothing we can do about it.

You can read the three entries as they appear here, here and here.

Reich blames the decline of manufacturing on the inexorable march of technology. He writes: "Want to blame something? Blame new knowledge. Knowledge created the electronic gadgets and software that can now do almost any routine task. This goes well beyond the factory floor. America also used to have lots of elevator operators, telephone operators, bank tellers and service-station attendants. Remember? Most have been replaced by technology. Supermarket check-out clerks are being replaced by automatic scanners. The Internet has taken over the routine tasks of travel agents, real estate brokers, stock brokers and even accountants. With digitization and high-speed data networks a lot of back office work can now be done more cheaply abroad.

"Any job that's even slightly routine is disappearing from the U.S. But this doesn't mean we are left with fewer jobs. It means only that we have fewer routine jobs, including traditional manufacturing. When the U.S. economy gets back on track, many routine jobs won't be returning-but new jobs will take their place. A quarter of all Americans now work in jobs that weren't listed in the Census Bureau's occupation codes in 1967. Technophobes, neo-luddites and anti-globalists be warned: You're on the wrong side of history. You see only the loss of old jobs. You're overlooking all the new ones."

Actually, I am not completely convinced that manufacturing is gone. It's just changed. There are companies in the world that manufacture innovative and high value products. Examples in Australia include Bishop Technology Group which makes power steering technologies. Operating out of Sydney, the company has over 180 patents and patent applications and over 20% of all cars produced globally carry some Bishop technology components. Companies like Fujitsu, Sony and Apple are also innovative.

What makes the new kind of manufacturing different is that the manufacturers have identified niche markets. Whereas in the old days, manufacturers were making products that everyone else in the world was producing, the name of the game now is to develop items that are unique.

Still, we shouldn't expect that will create jobs. As Reich says, manufacturing now is increasingly automated. It's not dying, it's just changing.