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So as you ably pointed out, way back in 1896....
"We renew and emphasize our allegiance to the policy of Protection as the bulwark of American industrial independence and the foundation of American development and prosperity. This true American policy taxes foreign products and encourages home industry; it puts the burden of revenue on foreign goods; it secures the American market for the American producer; it upholds the American standard of wages for the American workingman; it puts the factory by the side of the farm, and makes the American farmer less dependent on foreign demand and prices; it diffuses general thrift and founds the strength of all on the strength of each. In its reasonable application it is just, far and impartial, equally opposed to foreign control and domestic monopoly, to sectional discrimination and individual favoritism."

I guess we all asked. What the hell happened afterward.
The world grew. Many things drastically changed as more nations became industrialized and could compete in various markets globally etc.. Labor in the United States set up the "stacked cards" whether knowingly or not, to drive the cost of manufactured goods and services up. Investment bankers, world wide small investors etc., demanded an ever increased return on their investments. Many things to verbose to list came to past, and I am sure most I have little knowledge as to the whys and hows............so now we approach a point of no return.
Once the American industrial and high tech base is gone or waining to the point, where the world no longer wants to invest in us, and or our goods are to high, and our dollar drops against other other currencies to the point where our GNP etc. go to hell........
we sink further into the sand. Unlike years back there was little competition in so many markets based on our developed industrial base, and total wealth etc.. Now things are changing as you well understand.
And once it is no longer desirable to create/build in the USA, for many reasons, we will continue to loss national wealth, where it used to be large companies that where in the position to manufacture and produce world class products, and sell to the US as well as the rest of the world. In short. Keep the companies here, provide the incentive for them to grow (thereby employing American workers), thereby keeping the national wealth intack.
Now who is to say that lets say a Toyada will keep it's car plant in America? What happens when foreign companies start to remove their plants they invested in this country and start to move them to China?
I understand fully that I have little education in world economics, how countries via for business etc.. I just look at the big picture and see how should we say........the upcoming horror story that just seems to have started some twenty years back or so continues to develop.
I realize the complexities are great. There are no easy answers, and never where.
As more business moves off shore, sells out to foreign companies, just goes out of business for lack of a market share here and abroad, foreign owned business in US, pull out and set up shop in China and the far east etc., we in America will find less opportunities to find work. Now as everything falls apart. More schools of higher learning will no longer be required. After all if we no longer need electrical engineers, chemists, programmers, and the like, all we need are schools that produce artist, musicians, doctors, and lawyers. So more schools will go under. The domino effect occures. Just one closing note. An example.
If we never helped China become a viable AeroSpace giant.
Would we not have had a good chance of continuing to sell them aircraft produced by our US companies? Soon they will not need us for anything. Computers. Hell. Just buy out IBM's PC division. They already have mainframe technology practically given to them by us for the past ten plus years.
Same goes for satelite technology etc.. So now they can charge us to send aloft satellites because they do it cheaper then we can. We are in trouble folks.

We are in trouble folks.

In a word, yes. The problem is that we have disinformation agents, and just plain crazy ideologues, many of them wearing the economic blinders of Cato-school or Von Mises school, who just don't know how the world runs...and follow the defense-content-free analysis of their gurus. Garbage in, garbage out.

They don't understand that we are involved in a 'game' of economic musical chairs, and that the Chinese are stockpiling all the chairs each turn...and by the time we call for a time-out to complain, and demand they return the chairs they are absconding with...we will no longer have any place to sit...and they will simply stop 'playing'. This was never a game to them. This was war, and it's for keeps.

GWB has professed a great deal of respect for Ronald Reagan, and others have opined that in many ways, that he is the real heir of the Reagan revolution. But I look over his policies and administration, and all I can say, is Reagan, Oh Reagan, where are you?

You have the gist of it, not to worry.

PRChina is our enemy. Some think that spreading a bunch of dollars around PRChina will make them love us. Some even were trying to tell us that PRChina is "the largest consumer marketplace in the world."

Well, it has a lot of consumers, but damn few who can buy 2 cars, a couple of refrigerators and stoves, and a second home in Door County--and it will be a good 50 YEARS before the rest get out of hand-to-mouth.

In the meantime, PRChina's gummint has stolen our nuke secrets with the cooperation of X42, stolen patents from most US firms who are stupid enough to make product over there, priced its currency at way-below-market rates and guaranteed it would stay under the value of the USDollar, and is now working very hard to disable US manufacturing capability.

But we can buy their friendship, right?