[kmerroll]

I would venture the implied discussion is about more than shipbuilding. Resources, labor, regulation, and other factors raised in the article are endemic across lots of areas and seems symptomatic of market forces and government policy. As a counter argument, I have to ask why the U.S. needs to build ships faster, larger, cheaper than other countries? The U.S. certainly seems to be able to build infrastructure and housing reasonably competitively.