Posted on 03/20/2016 2:57:17 PM PDT by central_va
The United States is rapidly becoming the very first "post-industrial" nation on the globe. All great economic empires eventually become fat and lazy and squander the great wealth that their forefathers have left them, but the pace at which America is accomplishing this is absolutely amazing. It was America that was at the forefront of the industrial revolution.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
The traditional response from free traders has been that if we take care of tax rates here and reduce regulation, everything will be all right.
Well, I can’t conceive of any possible tax cuts (within reason at all) or any degree of deregulation that would change a $2 an hour job in China into a $25 an hour job in America which is pretty much the minimum to live a middle class lifestyle today.
Now, am I off? Am I being fair to the free trade advocates?
The hell is wasn’t. Detroit died the day NAFTA and GATT were signed into law, and the lobbyists for the big three were the largest contributors.
For every one of those jobs lost, seven other jobs down the food chain went with them. No sector was spared, in lncluding your beloved financial sector. Now it is an industrial wasteland, being repopulated with illegals and muslims.
Not all all surprising.
Then there's a lot of that going around.
Its gonna take a helluva lot more than marginal tax cuts and a few trims of regulation.
Like what?
Worse than the sell-off of the equipment and technologies is the diminished workforce with the skills to operate and produce what we need. Five will get you ten that most people don’t even know a tool and die maker.
Yep, when I’ve got your number up front, it certainly isn’t.
When you can't, you can't.
I am convinced one day when it’s to late to save America the Free Traitors will come out and tell us they knew all along that offshoring was destroying the US economy but “hey we made some serious coinage doing it”.
ACCOMPLISHED BY TRAITORS.......
Sadly, hes just the latest in a long line of U.S. leaders and Beltway scolds who have made lucrative careers working to ostracize any reservations about globalist trade and immigration policies that have enriched and empowered one percent-ers at the expense of the nations working and middle classes.
No, when I recognize a dumb ass, I don’t waste my time with them.
Detroit just had more industry than the others. You saw the same thing in Philadelphia, Chicago, Buffalo, etc.
When a one factory town loses it’s factory, the whole thing closes down like a gold rush mining town in the 1800’s.
The issue isn't so much whether it's good for the USA or not. The laws of economics are unforgiving and inexorable and it doesn't really matter if we like them or not.
Communications and transportation advances have changed the world, and it isn't going back. We can rail against our fate and pretend that some politician will make the earth spin backwards like Superman and cause the smokestacks to reappear, but they won't. And they shouldn't if there's a cheaper, more efficient place to produce those industrial goods.
We need to do what America has always done - accept the circumstances we find ourselves, fight and innovate our way out of it. We can offer our young people a better alternative than laboring in some factory where they will always be competing with the lowest cost labor out there - Mexico, China, Bangladesh, etc., etc.
What we can't do is reverse the arc of history over the last four decades. Much of the third-world is out of the economic barn and they aren't going back in.
Well he said he wanted to instigate a tariff war so that middle class Americans can pay higher prices for gooods. Then he is going to use his dictatorial powers to make American companies bring their operations back to America while he still has operations overseas.
NAFTA wasn't even signed until 1992, and didn't come into effect until 1994. Do you have any idea what Detroit looked like in 1990?
"Don't pee down my back and tell me it's raining"
I recognize dumb asses too, but I still give them a chance to back up their claims. And they never do.
And I can't even think of what would be produced by 19-20 million Americans earning $25/hour (make that at least $50/hour when you include all compensation) that would be affordable to anyone living a "middle class lifestyle" today.
A 20% tariff is a 20% guaranteed profit margin for any company willing to repatriate production. Greed will bring back manufacturing to the USA, just like greed made corporations seek the cheapest stoop labor from all over the world. Greed cuts both ways. Anyone making product would kill for a 20% profit margin.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.