Nah. This is better. We don’t want to reduce our standard of living to match the lowest in the world.
Level the playing field. Put the same costs on foreign manufacturers that are mandated for America manufacturers. If American companies have to pay extra environmental, health care, taxes and regulatory costs then put the same dollar load on foreign companies. It’s like States do on equalize sales taxes with compensating use taxes.
You just can't get it through your head that everything isn't made in America. It never was. We started out as an importing country, and grwe to be the largest importer exporter in the world. It never was manufacturing that provided the bulk of jobs and GNP in this country, and never will be. We simply bought up everything smaller countries produced, and resold/exported it. We imported the raw materials from other countries to manufacture they things nobody else made. We were never a "we must sell more apples than we import' kind of country. If we do bend down to that kind of mentality, we will become that third world country you speak of. If you think manufacturing provides the bulk of jobs for Americans, then your "level the playing field" WILL turn this into the third world country you speak of, because over 50% of Americans will become unemployed if we abandon the trading principles that made this country wealthy and great.
I don't know why you hate Obama so much then, because turning the USA into a closed bordered "USSR" is exactly what he wants to do, and what you want.