What could bring manufacturing back to the USA at this point?

[madville]

It is looking pretty bleak isn't it? A printing house I used to work at is shutting down and selling their ole West German presses to a company in Ecuador, 50 jobs lost. It is so much cheaper to produce things in China or take your pick. What will bring manufacturing back home? Extremely high fuel/transport costs, lower wages/less benefits here at home, tariffs, lower taxes, reduced health care costs for employers, less environmental regulation? A combination of all the above? I just don't think the government, no matter who is in charge, has the fortitude to take the necessary steps to bring it back. I think things would actually have to get cheaper to produce here now for them to pay the expense of bringing it back after they have already moved it.

[tularetom]

1. Protective tariffs would do the trick

But I doubt if you'll see that happening with the current batch of free traders in the drivers seat.

The other thing that would accomplish the goal of returning manufacturing jobs to the US was the depressing of wages to third world levels. And that would cause social disruption on a scale never before seen here. I mean it may happen anyway but at least the government will be able to deny responsibility.

[madville]

3. It's impossible to compete

You can't pay a US worker $12 an hour when the foreign worker makes $12 a day. Their wages would probably have to increase because ours can't really go any lower.

[astral]

33. Our wages indeed, can and ***will*** go lower

Quote madville
3. It's impossible to compete
You can't pay a US worker $12 an hour when the foreign worker makes $12 a day. Their wages would probably have to increase because ours can't really go any lower.
________________________________________________________________

Why can't our wages go any lower? We are bringing people in by the truckloads to work for lower wages. There is no reason in the universe our wages can't be brought down to the level we are paying the 'guestworkers.' As a matter of fact, that is part of the North American Union plan. Level the playing field, so to speak.

America isn't going back to where it was, not ever.

[TransitJohn]

60. deleted

meant to reply to op

[Blue Meany]

71. My view is that the use of the dollar as a global currency

keeps it inflated way above its real value, so that goods produced here are not competitive in a global market. It may be good for the finance and insurance industries, but not for businesses that actually make products. For a long time there has been a global community of interests that wanted to keep it that way: Asian and European investors and sovereignty funds, because they own so much American debt and they don't want it devalued; and the US govt., because it wants to keep borrowing from oveseas. Now it looks like China and some other countries are going to start hedging their bets, and are going to try to start a global currency to replace the international role of the dollar. This will cause the dollar to deflate and US industry will be more competitive. In addition, debts will be paid off to foreign investors with deflated dollars. But it will make it very hard to get credit for both the public and private sectors, which would slow a revival of industry.

[anonymous171]

16. Agreed. nt

[4_TN_TITANS]

72. "the depressing of wages to third world levels" BINGO!!!

This is the whole reason for our government and businesses to allow this catastrophe of trade imbalance. American workers have been continuously forced to make less and less. How can we begin to compete with 3rd world options? I think tariffs and penalties for outsourcing is the only way. My company has seen an influx of orders using stimulus money that require American Made.

[theophilus]

2. Higher fuel prices......they're coming......you'll see. n/t

[seabeyond]

4. quit buying the cheap shit from china. just gonna break in a day or so

anyway.

from what i hear, companies are spending so much money cause of the knock offs and stuff from building product over seas, is causing some companies to come home

[Pangolin2]

5. Earth people have now pretty much put 'cheap' at the top of their priority list.

Whoever can make widgets that sell for less than anyone else's widgets will dominate the market share.
It's not so much that government lacks the fortitude, it's that it lacks the ability. You think herding cats is a tough job?....compared to controlling a global economy it's a cakewalk.

[bigmonkey]

69. Open Source software demonstrates price isn't everything.

IMO.

[Pangolin2]

78. Well, maybe but I think it's a little different than with hard goods. I guess you're thinking of

some flavor of Linux vs. Microsoft/windoze which had/has some significant advantages...it was first (at least seen as first by most consumers), it was bundled with virtually every PC and it's nowhere close to as user friendly, there's no central support point and basically it's a kluge with no guarantees of safety or accuracy.
Not defending Windows, just expressing what people think and I don't really disagree.
People are pretty cynical about stuff that's 'free'. :shrug:

[bigmonkey]

80. As I see it, as a 10 year user, the reaction is very anomalous.

I see it as working better, more reliable, compatible in nearly every respect (with the minor problems a result of market share, so they'd be quickly fixed with greater adoption), virus-free, permanently upgradable with no fee, granting more freedom to the user, and costing nothing, as in zero dollars. So, as I see it, the "consumer" perspective is not related to price in this case at all, and it makes me wonder how much classical economics is really a fig-leaf for non-rational manipulation.

[abumbyanyothername]

6. Personally, I think that labor has to take it in its own hands.

Starting small, and let's say, with food production.

A labor union designates some portion of its pension money for capital to buy the means of production (in this case, a plot of land, housing for some workers and some tools). They establish a reasonable rate of return for the rental of their capital, say 10%.

They advertise for some skilled agricultural workers and also some who are not yet skilled in agriculture. They establish a labor intensive system of production. They market to their own membership.

If each agricultural worker could feed 20 (or more) other workers, then this system ought to work. Since current agricultural practices have .5% of the workforce in agriculture, seems like a labor intensive alternative (to sop up extra labor) ought to be able to do at least 1/10th as good.

I'm not sure it would work, but I think it is an alternative worth testing.

Once we cover food, we move on to housing.

[scarletwoman]

7. Tariffs, and huge tax penalties on any U.S. company that moves its operations out of the country.

Nationalized healthcare would also help -- access to health care should NOT be tied to employment.

Workers owning the means of production wouldn't hurt, either. :)

sw

[Raineyb]

70. +1

The single payer opponents are cutting their nose off to spite their face (and spite the rest of us apparently) we will NEVER be able to compete when every other industrialized country has single payer health care where the manufacturers will not have to include the price of insurance into their product.

(BTW, China will have a single payer health care system in January. But we can't afford it here. In the end, we're paying for theirs.)

[Djinn]

82. still wont help you compete much

even if what was on the table WAS actually a national health model manufacturing flight will continue. Australia's manufacturing base has been decimated - it's impossible for Australians to live on the kind of wages paid in the third world.

Unionising workers in the third world and bringing their conditions up to first world standards is the ONLY thing that will work.

[Oregone]

8. Mandating automobile purchasing from private companies

(to go hand in hand with insurance mandates).


They could also employ a large group of people in a public demolitions organization, which destroys cars, machines, infrastructure. Thereafter, use debt to subsidize manufacturing to rebuild it all. If there isn't enough money for subsidization, we could always try slavery and sweat shops again.

[madville]

9. We could make everything we need right here at home

and we used to. Why not just impose tariffs that would level the playing field? Prices on goods would increase of course but more people would have jobs here and be paying more taxes, SS, medicare etc.

[Pangolin2]

14. True but the world isn't anything like it ever was before.

Our ability to determine our future decreases in inverse proportion to our numbers. Or, to put it another way, a consensus on virtually any issue becomes more nearly impossible every time another person becomes involved.

I think a reading of DU confirms it.

[Juche]

10. I made a post about that once

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4029884#4030632

US currency is going down while Chinese currency is going up; wages in China are going up far faster than here; environmental, labor and QC standards are going up in China which increase costs; shipping costs are increasing and labor is becoming a smaller % of the cost of manufacturing due to higher raw materials.

So due to those reasons, US manufacturing should start to come back from China. However it might just go to south America instead.

[WCGreen]

55. Bingo...

The dollar keeps dropping making it more competative to hire American workers...

But, it will also cause the pride of oil to rise...

[Warpy]

11. Several things

First, free trade without fair trade is a total bust. Multinational corporations find it much nicer to set up shop in countries that allow near slave labor conditions and have no environmental restrictions. China is catching on to the latter now that they're losing ag land they can't afford to lose, but nobody else is.

Second, free trade with protectionist countries is one of the stupidest ideas ever. If another country is protectionist, we need to be to exactly the same extent.

Third, we're still paying corporations to throw us out of work and move their plants offshore. Clearly this is insane.

However, what will eventually make things made here in the USA competitive with things that have to be shipped halfway around the planet is rising energy costs. That will happen faster if we plan now.

If this country gets its act together and pries hoarded wealth away from the rich and uses it to set up an infrastructure based on renewables with a revitalized and integrated highway/rail shipping system, this country will become competitive with countries that are still using old, inefficient machinery that requires fossil fuel to run.

This will take a great deal of central planning, something that is anathema to the corporations that have been throwing us out of work and it will require a return to a progressive tax structure to fund.

It's the only thing that will keep this country from becoming a feudal backwater.

[Mopar151]

18. That thing about the railroads -

Could be big! Our rail system was a financial scheme having only a peripheral relationship to moving goods and people - fixing it would create some short term jobs (5-10 years).
A smart grid BUILT WITH AMERICAN COMPONENTS is overdue, should put us back in the forefront of electrical manufacturing.

[elleng]

23. There already exists an integrated highway/rail shipping system.

A number of rail mergers have taken place during the past 20 or so years, and they do a pretty good job hooking up with trucks to obtain and finally deliver goods.

[Warpy]

27. The roadbeds need expansion and upgrades

and more distribution hubs for the trucks.

What we have now works, sort of. It can be made a lot better.

[elleng]

32. Railroads are in charge of their roadbeds, some do better than others,

and they 'expand' when and wherever they think its justified. Motor carrier distribution goes hand in hand with railroad ability and needs, as well as economic necessity. Things have probably slowed down in recent past, along with everything. These are largely private, not govt., decisions.

[Mopar151]

56. Part of the problem!

The rail line by my Mom's was taken by eminent domain, in the interest of national security. The Boston & Maine had allowed the track to deteriorate badly (unsafe at 10 mph), and crews from CV Rail worked for months to repair it - about every third tie was replaced.
IMHO, we should consider nationailzing the roadbeds and control systems - making the railroads work more like the airlines.

[elleng]

68. Oh yeah, just like the airlines!

That would be swell!

Northeast has presented unique problems, and fortunately there's SOMETHING left in New England. A good amount of public support, but relatively little actual use due to shortage/deterioration of industry results in challenges as you note.

[Mopar151]

74. How hard is it to ship by rail?

because 9 different companies own the rails between you and there, the rates, delays, and byzantine complexities make it a nightmare. Why does'nt Walmart ship by rail?

[elleng]

76. Sorry that I've never been a 'shipper,'

but I believe there are entities/agents who address the complexities. Walmart and other companies own their own truck fleets, so can make it smooth. Non-union, too.

[Speck Tater]

12. Oil prices high enough to make shipping too expensive. nt

[dbonds]

13. US penalizing any company that outsources...

They should pay the US the difference in what they are paying overseas and the average wage here before outsourcing began. That money put in a special fund for startup companies that will build things here and are not allowed to outsource.

[wildbilln864]

15. The PTB don't want manufacturing back in this country....

it costs them too much. :shrug:

[Mopar151]

19. Not only in money

It's not good to have the slaves too close to the big house...

[anonymous171]

20. Yep. They want us to become a service economy.

An economy where we (the little people) have to serve them (the rich) to survive. They can't have us producing things here. That might give us ideas that are above our station. They want us all dressed up in paper hats and bow ties or confined to small cubicles so they can keep an eye on us.

[izquierdista]

17. Tariff by weight

Next time you are at the dollar store, look for the little sacks of rocks to put in the bottom of a flower vase. Where are they from? China, of course. It's much cheaper to have a factory in China pack little sacks of rocks than it is for Americans to pick them up off the ground. Of course, if the tariff was $5 a pound, you wouldn't see too many Americans buying sacks of rocks. The same with drywall, ceramic floor tile, and all the other heavy stuff that winds up in American stores from overseas.

[Canuckistanian]

21. Higher petroleum prices

They're coming soon.

And it won't seem like such a bargain to import all those hairbrushes from halfway around the world.

[Stinky The Clown]

22. The incentive to bring jobs back to the US can be summed up thusly:

"Pay Third World Wages"

[Hannah Bell]

49. so all the world has third world wages. then what?

[Stinky The Clown]

51. You've misdirected your query

Better, perhaps, to ask the perpetrators.

[Octafish]

24. Fiscal Policy

Invest in America Act.

[mmonk]

25. We could send our government to other countries and they can give the

businesses there tax breaks to ship their jobs here.

[kentuck]

26. Stop buying them.

When the rest of the world goes into a recession, their only hope is the good ol' American market. They will be begging to get back into the consumer heaven on earth, good ol' USA.

[debbierlus]

28. When the dollar becomes so weak that other countries goods are too expensive....

Manufacturing will come back. We just set ourselves so behind it isn't funny.

We have literally shipped our equipement to make our own stuff out of the country.

Very stupid from a security stand point.

[David Zephyr]

29. Two Very Big Things Could Make A Big Change, madville.

1.) First, the former Governor and current Attorney General of California, suggested a 100% first year depreciation on capital equipment purchased IF the capital equipment stays in the U.S. for a minimum of time (I think he'd said 5 years). And if the capital equipment were made in the U.S. it would be even sweeter.

Robots and injection molding machines and automatic screw machines and CNC lathes and mills and automated conveyor belt lines and large pick and place machines and solder reflow ovens for making printed circuit boards can cost from $500K to $5 Million dollars.

And these machines can outwork any slave worker at 23 cents per hour and the machines can run 24 hours a day. Such automated machinery can give U.S. manufacturers a real edge and thereby also employ the technicians and quality control and manufacturing support personnel including purchasing folks and accountants, too.

2.) Add to that single, payer healthcare that takes the burden off of small entrepreneur start-up and even the big ones, and we could have a healthy infusion to boost manufacturing again here in the U.S.

Those two things would go a long way to "bring manufacturing back to the USA" even at this point.

Keep in mind that the low cost products that come from China, for example, are 25 days on the water crossing the Pacific and that delay in the supply chain is a real headache. Then there is the language barrier and the fact that they are asleep when we are awake and vice-versa. There are a lot of advantages to manufacturing here in the U.S.

Not everything will ever come back, but a lot of things can be done without tariffs and without stoking xenophobia. Just plain old common sense and a concern to look out for our own citizens the same way the governments of other nations do for their peoples.

[Vidar]

30. Confiscating corporate assets & throwing officers in jail.

[cbdo2007]

31. lower wages. That's why they leave isn't it?

btw, I'm NOT saying this is a good idea. Just saying this would bring manufacturing back cause that's one of the reason's its gone.

[old mark]

34. Outside of a total collapse of manufacturing everywhere else in the world, nothing.

Politicians/corporations designed our economy this way - service jobs, large corporations, not much else. The idea is to create a permanent lower class with no rights or access to a better life who can purchase only cheap inported goods.
Over 25 years ago I worked on a project at Bell Labs to develop the most efficient computer chip manufacturing setup in the world. When it was successful, it was packed up and moved to Singapore. Bell Labs since has gone out of business.
The chips are being sold back to us by the millions.

mark

[TransitJohn]

73. Wish I could rec this post of yours!

Spot on, and sad.

[Initech]

35. Make outsourcing illegal?

[bridgit]

36. The next level++ of applied physics would do well to invite contributions to any innovation...

that already exists here in America, that's a given, that's America. But I'd like to see funding flow not just from the private sector and such are the UC system; but from DC along with oversight to the viable, contemporaneous product of targeted, poised longitudinal scientific research able to take that step into green realms which are the proper wave of the future. But it is a daunting task to read that they such as GE are moving green production to China what to do?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mike-elk/ge-moves-green-jobs-to-ch_b_244110.html

Until corporations (and globalized corporatism is a wild-west-wild-card) start to care :eyes: about someone other than themselves and their stock holders, controlling the data & product stream will better benefit the people - hopefully - even we here where our jobs should be

This is not socialism, this is not Marxism; this is America. And if the wealth of the nation resides not in the crown jewels I submit neither does it reside in Kennebunkport

[Hansel]

37. Stop buying the crap made in China

I've given up on it. Time after time I've purchase things that turn out the be utterly crap. I'm sick to death of it.

I'm starting to just go without because I'm sick of spending hard earn money on stuff that is a joke. I'm also letting the distributors know why I don't want their junk.

[omega minimo]

40. ...15 years ago.

[omega minimo]

38. An end to corporate personhood and corporate welfare and corporate control of elections.

Duh

[flvegan]

39. People giving a shit about where their stuff comes from, coupled with

the affordability of products from this country. Let's face it, some folks buy WalMart's cheap Chinese shit because they can't afford the alternative.

[Chan790]

41. Nothing.

Well...nothing worth doing. Repeal of the minimum wage, banning labor organization, high tariffs, less environmental regulation...face it, without becoming a conservative's utopia, they're not coming back.

We shouldn't want them back at such a high cost anyways.

[anonymous171]

45. High tarrifs would be awesome actually.

That's probably the only thing the old school republicans got right.

[Chan790]

64. Except that we lack the majority of raw materials required to produce high-tech devices...

like TVs, CD players, computers, batteries for hybrid and electric cars and cell phones. All of those are extremely dependent upon minerals like silicon, lithium, dysprosium and terbium. We don't produce these minerals in any appreciable quantity. (China leads the world in export of all four. Russia produces the majority of uranium...say what you will about nuclear energy, it is one of the few fairly-clean energy technologies available to us immediately as an intermediary step between combustibles and truly clean energy technologies.) If we raise tariffs, everybody else raises tariffs...and we're on the losing end of that stick unless we want to backslide to 1940's Soviet-era technology or conquer half the world in order to secure ample resource supplies.

What many people have never understood is that imposing high tariffs more-or-less requires a nation-state to become militant and expansionistic in order to acquire by force those resources necessary for sustaining production which are now priced out of the market by reciprocal tariffs. I do realize that we do already act in a militant and expansionist manner to feed the unslakable thirst for oil, but do we really need to be worse?

[DRoseDARs]

42. Stringent rules: For every job created overseas, an equal number must be created here...

Wages are required to be at the highest prevailing level (meaning if a US worker makes more, then an Indian worker working in India for the same company OR ONE OF ITS SUBSIDIARIES must make that same wage adjusted to US dollars), rules regarding worker safety et al likewise must follow the higher prevailing standard, same goes for environmental regulations. These companies ship US jobs overseas only because the places they move the jobs to have lower standards. The US must impose crushing regulations on such back-handedness. If you are an US corporation, you and your subsidiaries will conduct yourselves to a higher standard ... or else. Failure to comply should result in criminal prosecution and harsh sentences. As unpleasant as they can be (Death sentences for white-collar crimes is a bit much, donchathink China? :eyes: ) sometimes the Chinese know how to properly deal with such people.

[nadinbrzezinski]

43. Old time tarrifss, like we had for over 200 years

[winyanstaz]

44. Well. let's see now,,,,,,,,

Bring back manufacturing to America? Hmm, you mean things like bio-degradable rope and twine factories, bio-degradable fiberboard manufacturing, textiles, clothing and fashion, animal feed, bio-degradable paint thinners, cooking oil, fuel, bio-degradable plastics, medical chemicals and furniture making....just to name a few? Hmmm well that's easy enough.
Hemp.
Not only can it do all that but, it can convert all this excess carbon dioxide into pure clean oxygen while at the same time it will help cool the planet and retain ground moisture.
Opps I also forgot, cafe's and resorts etc too :) ....and let's not forget the money to be made on taxes that could balance state budgets.

[kenny blankenship]

46. Wages suppressed to Chinese levels- 120 dollars a month for factory workers

They're working on it - but remember the DLC motto: Ya gotta be patient!

[opihimoimoi]

47. The answers lay in the direction of the next level,,,we start thinking as a group and look for group

answers.

There is one line of work open to Americans...actually 2.

1. create more ways to up food production....drastic increase is needed asap to contend with growing pop

2. rebuild green cities...super green...where there is a surplus of energy (net gain) coming out of new green cities.

think of the jobs to rebuild efficient modern cities storm proof, disaster proof, etc and yet use less energy by a factor of 10.

a closed system or close to it....no waste....jobs will open for the creation of components for the nx cities and small towns. all tornado/hurrican/flood proof....many new jobs....from roof top farms/parks/gardens/restuarants/etc to central heating/cooling/etc to free transportation and job training ...new cities will be the boom industry for 20 to 30 years.

More exciting ideas will be sent to the Obama guys...

[jberryhill]

48. Break everybody's stuff, so they buy more stuff /nt

[tranche]

50. bury the dollar, lower our standard of living

simple

[raccoon]

52. An act of God/Goddess. nt

[rucky]

53. Worker-owned shops & cooperatives. n/t

[pampango]

54. Manufacturing is fine in Europe and Canada. Paying high wages is not a problem.

We need to adopt progressive policies that allow manufacturers to compete and citizens to survive economic fluctuations. We need national health care, progressive taxation, effective market and financial industry regulation and excellent social safety nets.

Until the recession Germany exported more than China. Manufacturers can thrive in a high-wage progressive society, but not in a society with disfunctional health care, taxation policies skewed to favor the rich, no effective market regulation and shreded safety nets.

[HamdenRice]

57. Ron Bloom, Obama's totally awsome car czar and manufacturing czar! nt

[endarkenment]

58. 1hr wages?

I think that is the basic plan. Meanwhile our economy is based on selling each other haircuts and lattes.

[showpan]

66. Repeal NAFTA

It's easy to fix this....
repeal NAFTA, impose high tariffs and taxes on all outsourcing corporations.
Close the borders to open immigration and give tests, english and math tests. Require all immigrants to prove they have a job waiting here for them that will pay enough to support themselves and their families.
Pass more green laws and standards, this will create new industries, Gore was right on that...lol
Create a Health care system such as Canada, not some corporate sponsored, insurance riddled, pharma lovers dream.
Roll back all those monopoly laws, especially for the media. Regulate, regulate and regulate some more.
Eliminate the federal reserve. For every dollar, store that same amount in gold, silver or some other commodity which retains a value, not just debt.
Eliminate lobbying.
Eliminate the electoral college. It doesn't reflect the vote of the majority anymore.
Stop meddling in foreign affairs and eliminate the corporate sponsored CIA policies that steal third world natural resources.
Roll back all faith based initiatives.
Eliminate the No Child Left Behind act.
Create electronic town halls and allow citizens to vote on a new bill only after discussion. One bill, one vote. Stop trying to sneak laws through with passage of another law that has nothing to do with the original law.
Eliminate all executive orders.
Rebuild America, Perot was right on this...lol
So many other things to list, what a dream, ok, back to reality....with no job.

[bigwillq]

67. ........

:thumbsup:

[n2doc]

59. Tax policy rewrite

Make all overseas profits taxable at a high rate. Provide very low taxes on profits generated by goods made entirely in US.

Tax the He-double chopsticks out of bonuses given to Execs of companies who manufacture overseas.

[pampango]

63. Agree on a tax policy rewrite, but a return to progressive taxation by itself would help.

Low taxes on the rich and corporations give them an incentive to squeeze every last dollar of profit out of workers or to send factories overseas, since they get to keep most of that last dollar of profit.

If the rich and corporations are paying high taxes on that last dollar of profit, that last dollar becomes less attractive (since they won't get to keep much of it). They will be more likely to improve employee pay and benefits (or keep the business in the US) which may cost them some profits, but they weren't getting to keep much of those last few dollars of profit anyway.

It's one of the policies that has turned Germany into a manufacturing powerhouse, (as of 2007 they exported more than China with a fraction of the population) even though wages are high there. Of course, Germany also has other progressive policies that we should examine - national health insurance, effective market regulation and an effective social safety net.

[Xithras]

77. Make domestic wages partially deductible.

Eliminate all tax loopholes to force the payment of all owed taxes, and then implement a system where companies can deduct employee paid wages from their owed taxes on a progressive scale. While this would reduce the amount of taxes paid by corps to the government, it should result in a larger number of domestic employees, who are paying taxes themselves and countering the tax loss.

I don't have a problem offering tax breaks to manufacturers if those breaks are going to directly benefit the American people. I have a huge problem with offering tax breaks to companies that just want to expand their profit while offshoring manufacturing.

Oh, and removing the burden of healthcare benefits by offering a subsidized benefits system would work too.

[TransitJohn]

61. Block all goods from the Chinese Poison Train from entering the country.

Lead paint on toys? Chemicals in food products? Poison drywall?

[Gregorian]

62. What brought it here in the first place.

A small population with room to grow, low oil prices, WAR, a world of undeveloped nations, etc.

We have a dilemma. Wouldn't it be nice if we could turn the clock back 100 years for some things. Not civil rights, but just world population and manufacturing. But now we have no place to grow, and that isn't just a simple phrase. It means literally that there are no fields like those in the Silicon Valley. They hunted pheasant there up until around 1960. But it also means that there were fewer patents back then. More easy things to invent.

The part is long over. Now we're living the hangover.

[pampango]

65. Turning back the clock is always a popular choice. My favorite would be to clone Mao

and bring the revolution back to China.

Perhaps not coincidently the economic times that many would like to the US to return, post-WWII to Reagan, were the years that Mao kept China off the world economic map. Chinese were mostly poor farmers who imported and exported nothing. The revived Mao might be shocked by the industrial capacity of modern China, but a Cultural Revolution or Great Leap Forward would take care of that. ;)

But seriously (back to the real world that lacks a cloned Mao), if modern Germany can build a strong manufacturing and exporting sector, so can we with the right policies. I don't see that we can ever go back to be a country where high school dropouts can work the same factory machine for 30 years. There are too many places in the world with bad educational systems that produce millions of dropouts. Better that we focus, like Germany, on using a good educational system that enables Americans to work higher wage, technically more complicated manufacturing jobs.

[BuyingThyme]

75. MicroSoft.

[sentelle]

79. Do what they do in the EU

Require that anything that is to be sold here in the US has a certain amount of US labor that has gone into it. Typically 50%. Sure, they can bring the parts into the US for US labor to assemble, but that gets a high tarrif. Or they can have local companies make it.

Ultimately the requirement needs to be mandatory.

[surrealAmerican]

81. We need to start enforcing anti-trust laws.

The huge multi-national corporations, once broken up would allow competition from smaller concerns that are less likely to have the means to outsource, and more likely to be responsive to the communities they get their employees from.