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"There is no way out of this mess that doesn’t include a lot of pain. "

I think there is.

Start with making energy, both electricity and fuel, as cheap as possible. Build nuclear plants, drill, remove taxes on energy. That'll boost productivity and reduce consumer's monthly expense, giving them more disposable income.
Close the border and start deporting illegals. Reducing the supply of labor which will reduce unemployment.
Some protective tariffs on electronics imports would cut the biggest dollar imports from China and rejuvenate some high-tech industries in the U.S., while also providing a temporary source of revenues to help bring down the deficit.

Well - those are some good ideas, but they aren’t going to happen.

The US has been systematically deindustrialized on purpose. Oh, we still manufacture many things, large ticket items mostly, but electronics aren’t coming back.