You are exactly correct.
It is a common misconception that China and others have attracted our industry.
Not correct.
We have driven our industry out of the country and they ended up in China, Vietnam, etc., simply because they had to go someplace.
EPA has been the biggest driving force.
Just make a list of how many industries EPA has made difficult or impossible.
Tax laws, health insurance laws, etc., close behind.
I was once a major distributor of heavy equipment to an industry that has gone overseas and my customers had to have degreed engineers whose job as to keep up with federal and state EPA regulations.
Then there was the personnel department head that had to be expert on all of the many new laws relative to everything from sex discrimination to benefits.
Some of the laws are admittedly good. However, too many of them are needlessly complex, harassing, overly expensive.
All figure in overhead as well as direct labor costs.
Industry is not coming back until we invite them back by making the manufacturing climate more hospitable.
We have driven our industry out of the country
EPA has been the biggest driving force.
Just make a list of how many industries EPA has made difficult or impossible.
Tax laws, health insurance laws, etc., close behind.
^
Glad you’ve elaborated on that point, in fact, now that we verfied Global Warming is a hoax, there should be massive roll back of EPA regulation