model train manufacturing in China

You may have over-looked some VERY key "negatives" related to doing business in the U.S., i.e. liability insurance, workmen's compensation, corporate taxes, OSHA, and not to forget our friends in the EPA.

the regulatory environment and the political environment are stacked against ALL business in the USA, small or large, new or old.

Don't forget - look at what you would accept for employment, and compare that to what the Chinese are getting.  You would want a living wage, probably more than the current minimum wage, plus health care, holiday and sick pay, and maybe overtime for when the boss wants you there sixty hours a week.

Austin is pretty cosmopolitan - not sure you could find enough skilled craftsmen there willing to work for peanuts.

We cannot see the advantages of mass production using folks who were unable to finish high school pulling levers on robot machinery.  We need skilled folks who can read blueprints, manage a small torque wrench and a resistance soldering outfit, and troubleshoot an electrical nightmare.

I no longer work for less than $75/hr.  You will not find me in one of those factories, and I know how to build model steam locomotives.  How many posters here are willing to take the plunge into that kind of employment?

This has been discussed here numerous times in the past. Threads like this inevitably dissolve into heated political discussions, which are not suitable for this forum.

Therefore I have closed this thread.