[Alberta's Child]

Over the last two years I've probably spent more time in closed-down factory towns across the U.S. than you have. Most of these places have been fading from the map for reasons that have nothing to do with "offshoring."

Industrial output in the U.S. is higher than it's ever been. That doesn't mean we still need every factory and industrial facility that was built after 1940.

And guess what ... almost every one of these industries in the U.S. is dead-set against protectionism for their own reasons. For one thing, they all rely on foreign materials for their production processes to some degree.

P.S. -- Those "blue collar people" aren't the new Republican base at all. They are the TRUMP base.

[central_va]

Industrial output in the U.S. is higher than it's ever been.

How much higher would industrial output be if the USA had not foolishly off shored huge swaths of its industrial base? If you adjust for inflation the out put is not that much greater.

What would industrial output be if we still had an electronics industry, a furniture industry, a textile industry, a replacement car parts industry, an air conditioning industry? I could go on and on.

You go on to say most of the places would be shrinking for other reasons but you fail to state any of those reasons. What the hell kind of argument is that?