Right - it isn't a myth. Check where the stuff you buy is made and you will see where the jobs have gone. Clinton started job exporting, Bush put it on steroids, and Obama looks the other way.
There will be no recovery until we make more of what we import. Whatever it takes. A good place to start would be to put flexible tariffs to equalize what countries sell to us and buy from us. No tariff if the difference is small to the more the difference, the higher the tariff. Trade means we buy from us and you buy from us. Anything else is we are being robbed.
Why do I expect that you are not in favor of free trade agreements with Colombia, South Korea, and Panama? Let me guess, they are not "fair."