That's the first thing you've gotten right on the thread. Just look at this chart. When our trade deficit is increasing our GDP, manufacturing output and employment also increase. Maybe you and Hydroshock should learn about the Capital Account surplus and why it's good for our economy.
My grandfather said back in the 1950's that the unions would be the death of this country. I tend to agree.
However, I fail to see how the wholesale exportation of heavy industry, manufacturing and tech jobs and facilities strengthens the US. We have a finite amount of capital, resources, employment and the like here, and because it is finite there is an endpoint. Likewise, I fail to see how the replacement of high-paying jobs with lower-paying ones is helpful as well. We have some room to maneuver and can keep it going for a while, but what happens when the music stops?
I am all for technological advancement. When the tire plant closes, all the people must find new jobs, and that is just the free market forcing healthy competition. However, when the employees move to another company and that closes, a cycle has begun. After this cycle has continued through hundreds of closings a year for years on end, what do you end up with... especially when more and more of the available jobs are being exported? When the advancement, growth and job creation are taking place outside the US? When more and more of the jobs that disappear have fewer and fewer jobs offering lateral movement to replace them?
Also, Mase, why aren't all the years represented in your figures above? I'd be interested to see the data once they were; until then, I don't think that an argument based upon partial numbers is a valid one.
Awesome! Did you like my "ship EVERY job overseas" idea, too?