Trump talks of making better trade deals, but to trade what?
We don't manufacture anymore. We haven't built new refineries in decades, the power grid is decaying, Clinton wants to close coal mines and power plants, Obama won't drill in the Atlantic, politicians have closed off all of our natural resources from use. Where will we get the power to run assembly lines that we don't have anymore? How do we lubricate them to keep them functioning
Environmentalists shut down mines and lumber, so where do we get the metals and wood to make the products to trade? We don't educate our children anymore. Where do we get the skilled people to operate the refineries and power plants, run the assembly lines, and design the products to trade in these better deals? How do we rebuild the military without first rebuilding our industrial infrastructure and materials supply chain?
This has to be the next discussion - how do we support making better trade deals if we don't have the stuff to trade in the first place?
-PJ
What an absurd assertion....
Ah, but Grasshopper. The beleaguered US consumer is the purchaser of last resort for almost all other countries, who have based their entire economy on “sell to the US”.
And Europe is about to find out the hard way what happens when you have a world war, then let the next generation or two go all feminist so you have weak men, empowered women, and no children nor military...and decide to let in a million or so aggressive Muslims, jihadists thrown in at no extra cost.
He’s going to gut the EPA, for one thing, and some kind of financial thing that I can’t remember what it’s called, so companies who put all their $ overseas can bring it back and start up manufacturing here. Reducing red tape crap so it’s easier to start up businesses. And Trump knows globull warming is crap. He’s talked a lot about bringing manufacturing back to the US.
There are very intelligent and skilled Americans available. My daughter’s BF graduated with honors in Aeronautical Engineering from the 27 best rated university in the WORLD, and needed 4 months to fins a job!
The foreign trade deals we need is to “BALANCE” the trade between our traders and us. Which simply means countries will not be allowed to dump products tax free in United States. That will certainly boost domestic manufacturing.
We have some manufacturing left.
What no one is discussing is the incredible state of emergency we would be in if we ever were in a war and had to manufacture anything for a war effort.
We are too reliant and have allowed our means of production to wither.
Does anyone realize just how exposed we are in the event of an emergency?
Well, do you suppose a few "retired" folks who used to make things could be persuaded to get back into harness to put some of that stuff back together again?
I've got 40 years experience along the lines of mechanical/aeronautical/manufacturing engineering, including a few years training machinists to build the stuff I designed and I'll even double down and do electrical controls and power if there aren't any twidgets around to handle those details.
Pay? Well, if I'm having fun I'll usually leave that up to Grandma. Just leave me a couple days a week to play golf and a Get Out of Jail Free card for when I kick EPA/OSHA butts over the parking lot fence and I'm good.
I probably can even go over and get all that drafting equipment back that I donated to that museum......