So your solution is to raise prices for all Americans (aka, inflation) during an economic downturn, all for a vague goal of "more manufacturing" when we are still #2 in the world in manufacturing? Sorry, that would be a very poor idea. We already have WAY too many programs that essentially boil down to "have all Americans pay some more so that a few people can have XYZ". We don't need more.
(Our overlords are also doing EVERYTHING they can do keep inflation at an absolute minimum, because they know that if interest rates go up just a 2-3 points, there will be massive repercussions worldwide. The hyper-debt that Japan and the US have been living on for the past 6 years will hit both like a ton of bricks... and without anyone large enough to bail us out (Germany is barely big enough to bail out tiny Greece), it will spiral quickly. Inflation is their greatest and realest fear right now... and not just for their phoney-baloney jobs, either.)
“(Our overlords are also doing EVERYTHING they can do keep inflation at an absolute minimum,”
The purpose of the massive money printing by the Federal reserve is to stave off deflation, not prevent inflation. Expanding the money supply without a corresponding increase in productivity and economic output will ultimately result in inflation. The administration’s current push for a large hike in the minimum wage is also inflationary.
With respect to raising prices, when manufacturers moved production to Asia and realized cost decreases of 30-50%, did they reduce prices to the consumer by an equivalent amount? No, they realized higher margins and retained them as profits. Those profits were invested in building China into the industrial powerhouse it is today. The American consumer did not see the benefit of lower costs in the form of lower prices.
If the consumer did not benefit from lower prices when production moved offshore, why would consumers necessarily experience price increases if tariffs are increased back to historical (1980’s) levels? Perhaps importers and foreign factories will accept lower margins to price competitively. Perhaps newly constructed US factories with new equipment and motivated US workers will be more productive than Chinese factories. Perhaps the Chinese government will increase export subsidies to Chinese factories in order to help the factories offset the cost of the tariffs. To the degree the Chinese government must divert resources from its rapid military buildup we benefit.
Foreign factories selling into a large no tariff market accrue significant benefits particularly when the taxpayer bears the many of the infrastructure costs of imports. Harbors and ports are maintained with tax dollars, waterways are dredged with tax dollars, the Coast Guard provides protection and rescue services to ships bringing goods into our ports, the cost of customs and homeland security inspections of imports is borne by the taxpayer. The presence of the US Navy makes the major shipping lanes around the planet safe for ocean transit. US citizens and US companies pay taxes for the roads inside the US used by foreign factories to ship their goods to warehouses and retail locations inside the United States. Why should the US taxpayer and US companies bear these costs for foreign factories? Let them pay for these services, as well as access to one of the largest markets on the planet, via tariffs.
Finally, I personally would prefer to pay a couple of dollars more for a toaster or shirt if it were made in an American factory by an American worker who was enjoying a middle class lifestyle and paying taxes than to pay the same amount or more in taxes to fund welfare benefits for the unemployed, not to mention the subsidies of foreign imports paid for with tax money described above.
The true unemployment rate today in the United States is about 20% if you count all of the able bodied people of working age who the government claims have dropped out of the workplace thanks to the loss of millions of manufacturing jobs and jobs in the supply chains that used to support those factories. Bring the factories back to give these people a chance at decent paying middle class jobs and you’ll see welfare rolls decline as well as government spending on social services