After one decides who to blame (and anyone will do, since it is the placing of blame that is important), what's next?
Protectionism won't solve the problem. Protectionism (which is collectivism) will produce inferior products at a higher price. Eventually the old Soviet joke becomes a truism. “Everyone’s working but there's nothing on the shelves.” Why would we turn to a failed system to “protect” us?
The solution is twofold. Compete where you have equality or advantage. Where you can't compete, don't. Simply take advantage of the cheap goods available and buy them. Competing directly against extremely cheap labor is impossible. How many times do we have to learn that lesson? It's been evident for centuries.
We must retrain our labor force to perform at a higher level than people overseas who can push a couple of buttons on a factory machine or do piecework for a few cents an hour. Like everything else about this economic situation, the fix is going to take a long time.
I forgot about saving the country or the world long ago. I got busy and saved myself. I learned how to compete with people in my industry who underpriced me by not competing with them on price, but on trust.
I left the world-saving to the lefties. This left me with a few important lessons:
You can't make a good deal with a bad guy.
Beware the naked man who offers you his shirt.
Never sign anything in a room with a chandelier.
Don't trust anyone who wears sunglasses inside.
The amateur always blames the equipment.
NO disagreement here but I fear you still believe in collectivism in the sense you want to retrain your fellow AMericans in the workforce to go upmarket and compete at higher profit margins.
Having worked as a PC/computer/IT certification instructor during President Bush’s big drive to retrain the workforce after the 2001 recession, all I can tell you is that
1. Most of the students were untrainable
2. Most of the students were receiving Gov loans/grants
3. There was almost no net benefit to the individuals or the economy as a whole from those retraining programs.
The only people really helped by that private IT school I worked at were younger minority students who couldn’t afford a community college but had potential, and immigrants who had potential but limited opportunities.
“Never sign anything in a room with a chandelier.” - That is going to stick with me.
The following is undisputed by both sides of the free trade agreement.
1) China Manipulates their Currency
2) China has no EPA
3) China has no EEOC
4) China has no minimum wage laws
5) U.S. wages cannot compete with Chinese slave labor.
To you this is fair and the U.S. workers?
BTW, the way have you ever called a computer help desk from overseas? They are worthless! I rather talk to an American that knows what the hell they are talking about and can speak English! I almost always get way better professional help from U.S. citizens then from India, Philippines, etc..