“Something we can thank the one way ‘open’ markets of Most favored Nation Status for China and one way free trade deals that have decimated American industry.”
The number one driver to take US jobs offshore is our government. Within walking distance of the US border in Mexico you’ll find a row of American companies that can’t conduct business in the US but who sell all of their products there. One that particularly caught my eye was called American Plating. You can’t buy or even handle the chemicals they use daily inside the United States.
My company had to deal with a city, county, state and federal EPA. Any one of those inspectors can find an unidentified puddle on the floor and shut you down instantly. One of the inspectors (can’t recall which EPA)was a fresh out of college girl who had apparently never been in a big manufacturing plant. She was a raving paranoid who just KNEW we were doing something that would kill all the whales (or something) if she didn’t shut us down. She was terrifying. The company president scuttled around like a Japanese serving girl personally getting her the answers to her questions.
Then, there’s the IRS which is indistinguishable from the Mafia. They can swoop in, seize your bank accounts and make you sign a statement that you’re guilty of something and agree to pay the fine. (I’ve seen this happen.)
Government regulations are killing more industries than anything else.
The industry I worked in is now almost completely gone and thousands lost their jobs - but foreigners now have those jobs. Environmental, tax, and labor laws drove them out of business and overseas where the same industries now make a much bigger environmental mess than we ever did. Nothing replaced those good jobs and the area is now a dying welfare disaster area with little work or hope.
Can you guess this happened in a very blue state (NY) which once was a powerhouse of industry and commerce but is now begging industry to come back so they can tax and regulate it to death again? Nobody is buying their political scam any more.