Let it happen...We can still produce every thing we'll ever need...
“We can still produce every thing we’ll ever need... “
When I was a kid we produced everything we needed including all clothing. I had two shirts, two pairs of pants, two pairs of underwear and a handful of socks that probably came from my father’s castoffs. Clothing was expensive. Now imagine making everything essentially too expensive for the average man to buy. How long would the voters put up with that? Also, there are things we can’t make right away. For example, most microcircuits are made offshore. When I worked on classified projects in the ‘80’s there was a requirement to buy only American made stuff. It was impossible. Then there are rare elements that aren’t here in commercial quantities, or are in protected lands like parks. It’s not realistic to think we could transition back and that the government responsible would continue in power.
Ah, I forgot to mention something else. There’s a huge not-in-my-back-yard movement in America and the world. These people love their Prius, Apple Watch, iPhone, Starbucks, chocolate and other luxuries but they don’t want the industry that creates those things visible. (Actually, they don’t want the industry to exist at all, but they don’t connect all the things they see as making life livable with the things they love to hate.)
This movement, a mutated remnant of Marxism is very much alive. It has metastasized into dozens of special purpose NIMBY governmental enforcers like the EPA, OSHA, NLRB and a host of non-governmental groups like The Sierra Club and Greenpeace. That’s a huge well funded infrastructure that would act as a sea anchor against permitting a single new industry on American soil. Is it realistic to think that the government who raised all prices across the board, who possibly collapsed the American economy would survive long against the combined weight of its own regulatory structure, angry people and well funded Marxists?
And then there are the would be workers. They’ve been living off the government’s teat for a generation or more. What would happen when we took away their teat and told them they had to work for their Obama phones and EBT cards? My sister did taxes for 20 years. She had numerous clients who stopped working, sometimes six months before the year ended...so they could maximize their government tax credits. There are darned few motivated workers left. This isn’t America in 1939 anymore.