The Manufacturing Boom You Won't Notice

Foxconn, the big Chinese manufacturer of Apple and Hewlett-Packard products, is thinking about building manufacturing plants in the United States, according to DigiTimes.

The move might be symbolic, driven more by public relations than by financial gain. But dig deeper, and you get the feeling that this could be the start of something new.

"Over the next 15 years, another 1.8 billion people will enter the global consuming class and worldwide consumption will nearly double to $64 trillion," a recent McKinsey & Co. report begins. That means more manufacturing.