tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499771266402854669.post5141097369680469949..comments2024-02-08T01:44:24.272-05:00Comments on ModeratePoli: Hollow AmericaModeratePolihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01721945380057992971noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2499771266402854669.post-53828420823221930022011-09-30T15:40:22.043-04:002011-09-30T15:40:22.043-04:00What could have been done? Nothing, really. Tariff...What could have been done? Nothing, really. Tariffs would slow it down, but only at the expense to everyone of higher-priced products. The irony is that we already have so much stuff in this country, it's just not distributed particularly evenly.<br /><br />Making stuff everywhere needs less period and space, period. Computers and robotic automation replace human hands and minds for routine tasks whenever the expected return from them exceeds the immediate cost. People have always been disposable.<br /><br />The only thing that would reactivate American manufacturing would be a dramatic increase in shipping costs from lower-cost countries such as China. We already see that from foreign name-plates manufacturing and/or assembling in the U.S.A. Take my Hyundai Sonata, for example. A "Korean" car made in ... Alabama.<br /><br />Eventually, we should be able to sell other countries our agricultural surplus even more, some of our raw or somewhat processed resources (such as lumber), technological products like software, and financial products. But each decision will have to be cost-justified and it's going to take a couple of generations at least.<br /><br />So board up or knock down those old factories and find something else do to with just a high school diploma (or not) and be thankful you can get struff really cheap from low-wage labor on the other side of the world.<br /><br />And don't waste your money on cigarettes or getting drunk twice a week at the bar, and you might just get by.<br /><br />From Bruce Springsteen's "My Hometown":<br /><br />"Foreman says 'These jobs are going boys, and they ain't comin' back to your hometwon.'"Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com