I agree. You have a choice...20 pairs of shoes from walmart or 2 or 3 good pairs of shoes from Florsheim.
A really good TV in your living room or a TV in every room but a job at Burger King.
What do people really want?
I’v gone Galt, personally. I buy food and not much else.
“What do people really want?”
You know the answer.... BOTH - good paying jobs (or better yet “free money”) and inexpensive goods.
The great leveling of all the people of the world will continue and it’s unavoidable. There are billions of people all over the world that can build what we used to build, and they’re willing to do it for much less.
Their standard of living will keep going up and ours will go down until the two are more or less in equilibrium, unless you come up with things you can do better (more cost effective) than they can.
And if you decide to impose huge tariffs on them, then get ready for much higher prices... and retaliation, and a lower standard of living.
The west has been fortunate enough to rest on its laurels for a long time. The rest of the world wants to catch up. It’ll be painful in the short run, but good in the long run.