It was not factory jobs that created the great American middle class
It was a combination of:
1. Government intervention into the management of companies that forced them to collectively bargain with workers.
2. Labor laws e.g.the 40 hour work week and OT pay
3. Lack of foreign competition
4. Discrimination against African Americans and Women which limited competition for White men and raised their wages
5. Fear of the spread of Soviet communism for which a large middle class would act as a buffer
None of these things would return if we brought back every factory job in the world onto American shores. If that were to happen, you would have to pay American workers the same wage as the factory workers in other nations. Otherwise, these companies would not be able to compete. For example, if Apple made every product in the U.S., they would have to pay their factory workers the same as Samsung or go out of business.
Folks, globalization is here whether you like it or not. There's nothing that a president can do.
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You ask a guy who is manufacturing widgets on the swing shift, he'll tell you that he sees himself running his own business, or getting an advanced degree to go into "X" line of work, in a few years. No one has the idea that they're going to stand on a line until they're too old to stand anymore, doing the same soulless thing every day.
And you're right--protectionism isn't the answer. If you want to sell to the world, you've got to have a world with money to buy what you're selling--and people need jobs to engage in the wonderful world of consumerism.
A rising tide will lift all boats. We've always been used, until recently, to being in the bigger, higher boat. The thing that pisses a small number of people off is that those "underprivileged" people working for low wages in those "underprivileged" countries have jobs that people here wouldn't do for very long, even if the pay were fifteen bucks an hour. The work just sucks--it's hard and repetitive and boring, and sometimes, it's dangerous.
People want to create--not everyone gets that opportunity, but they want to be in a job where at least they can laugh and joke with their peers--whistle while you work, if you will. Maybe do a little good. Feel like their contribution matters in some way. It's not JUST about the money....though people do want to pay their bills and save a little, too.
Years ago, people who called themselves liberals and progressives used to care about those poor folks working in horrible factory conditions--"Kathy Lee should pay those poor people more for manufacturing her sportswear!" "That company should improve safety and raise wages for those 'poor people' -- no one should have to endure those working conditions!" They didn't care if they weren't American--or working IN America.
Nowadays, I am hearing a lot of "They're taking our jerbs" from people who tell me they are "on the left." To my mind, being "on the left" means that we want EVERYONE to do well; regardless of the location of their birth. Why should the child born in Liberia or Brazil have fewer opportunities than the kid born in France or USA? On the one hand, people decry "consumerism" and "capitalism" but they want all the manufacturing and money-making opportunities to regress back to USA. It's a bit disordered, this thinking--it reminds me of the LEAVE voters that were interviewed on UK television following the BREXIT vote.
And people like Donald Trump stoke that fear, the fear that they'll never get a good job ever again, that they're too stupid to re-train, that it's hopeless, and their only hope is to bring that stupid, lousy, shitty widget factory back to East Hellhole, where daddy and grandaddy lost fingers working there.
I'm sorry but I won't ever agree that "protectionism" is a liberal value. I am a fan of FAIR trade, where that playing field is reasonably level, and no one is trying to cheat or take undue advantage, but the more people who are doing well in the world, the more people WILL do well in the world.
I really do think a lot of people are struggling with this bifurcation of goals. On the one hand they want people around the world to do well, on the other hand, if that means they're going to do LESS well, personally, then (for some, anyway) all bets are off. And they regard the process as a zero sum game. If Rajit on the other side of the globe has that crappy job bending widgets, why, that means "I" will never work again! That's a long way from that rising tide lifting all boats....
The thing is, it's NOT a zero sum game. Smart, inventive people with good, forward thinking ideas are the ones that develop products that create jobs. We've got the institutions of higher learning to educate these smart people--we need to make those affordable, and put those good thinkers out into the workforce. And we sure as hell don't need to let the "FEAR FEAR FEAR" arguments of a con artist like Trump overtake the conversation.
LOL! That was a mouthful!!!
