[Alberta's Child]

I agree with you, but keep in mind that the vast majority of the jobs we've lost over the last 25 years have been lost to automation, not foreign competition.

What's interesting about this is that we're starting to see a lot of automation even in countries that are "cheap" trading partners. This may bode well for the U.S. in some ways, because it means companies that do business globally will no longer have an incentive to go running all over the world seeking out the cheapest labor for their production processes.

[faithhopecharity]

most (not all but a whole lot) of that automation equipment is also made overseas

so my point is still at least valid to a significant degree

[central_va]

I agree with you, but keep in mind that the vast majority of the jobs we've lost over the last 25 years have been lost to automation, not foreign competition.

Prove it.

I guess all those factories in China are figments of our collective imaginations.

Liar.

[WRhine]

but keep in mind that the vast majority of the jobs we've lost over the last 25 years have been lost to automation, not foreign competition.

What does automation have to do with America's manufacturing industries being blown out of the water in one sector after another? Remember when we made our own electronics, TVs, computer boards, furniture, clothes, power tools? To name a just a few lost industries.

We lost them and over half our automotive business before automation and now that we are out of these industries we have no footprint to rebuild. You can thank our one-way no tariff trade deals for this. Not automation. Sad that many in the free trade crowd have painted themselves in the corner and are afraid they have been wrong for the last 30 years.