(1)
Yes, I agree that you should pull more production back home. Manufacturing is the heart of national power, and it's easy to forget this in a glitzy era of lawyers and financiers sitting on top of the pile. Another reason to anticipate China's rise: a majority of their students are science/engineering trained, and so are most of their politicians.
Sorry for accusing you of offering ideas based on your nation's self-interest. I guess we are not speaking in our official capacities as citizens or public figures here so we can be neutral.
Fully agree on inevitability of the switch. It's happened many times in history, of rising/falling powers. Even if China implodes now (pretty unlikely), it would be foolish to declare an end to history and believe the USA to be on top always.
If Bannon is merely advocating for pulling producers back to the US, then (within reasonable limits) I agree with him. You will still have to deal with the higher cost of production in the US, which ties into my point about people not having the stomach for such hardship.
But trade wars (i.e. tariffs) are simply counterproductive from an economic point of view. It's like hurting yourself to spite the other guy.
Agree about real-wages in the US vs other parts of the world.
Quick comparison, one of my best friends is a British guy, he got a job in London in the same company as me but in different global offices, we're both software engineers. His pay on a nominal level is slightly above mine (in GBP), but mine is in real terms above his (I get SGD). Post-tax it's even more extreme.. US cities with high-paying jobs often have similar problems (New York, Californian tech cities, etc.). Another one of my best friends is Chinese, his job offer in Shanghai is also in real post-tax terms far above his present role.
(2)
It's not the main story, it's a contributing factor. Obviously if the economic benefits of working in the USA far outweigh that in China, they would be in the USA, sure. But I can't agree that being a minority-race is not a real and major concern on their part. I know some of them pretty well.
Some of them move because they cannot enter the ranks of management. Maybe you can say it's a cultural thing, but on the whole I find your typical Chinese engineer doesn't have the look and behaviour that is expected in leaders in the US: even if they would otherwise be good leaders in China. One of my friends was offered a director-level position in a big Chinese tech firm, but he was more or less blocked from managerial roles in his company.
Discrimination is subtle and very personal, it's not just institutional rules like "not being allowed to be President". Happy to share more if you'd like: I'm a person who's lived both as a racial-majority and racial-minority and the difference is really obvious, even if you can't usually pinpoint specific instances and accuse people of being racist.