“It seems most every industrialized nation that has exported many of its manufacturing plants and jobs to cheap labor nations ends up with a mushrooming debt problem.”
A statement profound in its implications, but (sorry!) not Nobel prize material. It goes back to the creation of true wealth versus credit. Also relates to balance of payments and a whole lot of other things. It works for a while...
And it relates to having productive work available for most all the working age population, work that enables workers to have a minimal, USA standard of living. A country can export manufacturing jobs and outsource many more skilled jobs, and run enormous trade deficits, and unnecessarily import hundreds of billions in crude oil, and then pretend that it's an overall benefit, but when we look at the almost $1 trillion in annual government expenditures for welfare, medicaid, food stamps (and growing), etc., etc., I think we see what these policies actual bring about.
The trade policies that have been followed can have no result but to lower the living standards of a portion of Americans, and then gov't makes it up with more gov't programs and mushrooming budget deficits and national debt. And, NO, those programs are not going to be ended and every citizen assume total responsibility for their own needs. We better relearn how to have an economy that provides work opportunity for most every one who needs to work.