Jensen: 'We've done our country a great disservice' by offshoring

Wealth concentration, system design, and culture

• Several argue the core problem isn’t lack of wealth or factories but extreme concentration of wealth and power; offshoring and now AI/data centers amplify this.
• The “system” is seen as working as designed: laws, lobbying, and corporate structures tilt power to capital, not labor. Some say calling it a “flaw” is wrong; it’s a feature that must be changed, not just better policed.
• Cultural critiques: a competitive “elbow society” erodes solidarity; media, education, and politics reinforce the idea that fundamentals are untouchable, encouraging scapegoating instead of systemic reform.
• Proposed remedies include stronger labor organizing, anti-corruption, more progressive taxation, and “microgrants”/social enterprises to realign incentives toward social good, but people doubt these can scale under current incentives.

Offshoring, manufacturing, and the nature of “good jobs”

• Commenters question whether simply “bringing back manufacturing” would recreate mid‑20th‑century style “good jobs,” given automation, weak unions, and higher domestic costs.
• Modern factories and data centers are both far more automated; per-site employment is in the dozens or low hundreds, not thousands. Job density vs land/energy use is debated.
• Some argue service work could be “good work” if pay, protections, and social valuation changed; others stress that exportable, tradable sectors (manufacturing, high-end services) remain structurally different.

Energy, AI data centers, and capital allocation

• Energy is framed as the real foundation: high power prices make primary metals and heavy industry uncompetitive. Many say the US needs to roughly double generation (nuclear, solar, etc.).
• Others worry any new capacity will be absorbed by AI data centers, not manufacturing, further enriching a few and raising everyone’s power bills.
• There’s skepticism that tying “reindustrialization” to AI/data centers is anything but self‑interested positioning for subsidies, with little clarity on what real manufacturing would follow.

Healthcare, labor costs, and globalization

• High US healthcare costs (often $10k–$20k+ per employee per year) are repeatedly cited as a major driver of offshoring: foreign workers can be paid less than the cost of US health benefits alone.
• Long discussion contrasts US insurance-driven complexity and profits with single‑payer or regulated systems; many see employer-tied coverage as a deliberate tool to keep labor docile.
• Global labor arbitrage (offshoring and migration controls for workers vs free movement of capital) is viewed as central: capital exploits wage and regulatory gaps until or unless global labor standards rise, which many see as politically unrealistic.

Motives, hypocrisy, and limits of reshoring

• Multiple commenters note that the GPU company itself fabs abroad (e.g., via TSMC) and has offshored jobs; calling for reshoring now is seen as either hypocrisy or a bid to secure US-backed AI infrastructure spend.
• Some emphasize that even successful reshoring will be highly automated; the deeper issues—labor’s bargaining power, cost of living (especially housing and healthcare), and political capture—must be addressed or prosperity will remain narrowly distributed.