Then what would happen to our relations with China and the shock to our Trade activity? The "International Emergency Economic Powers Act", passed in 1977, could be used to shut down manufacturing of US goods in China and bring all China-based manufacturing back to the USA. This would cause a worldwide ripple in international trade, wouldn't it? Hal
I think part of the problem is people don't want to pay for a product what it would cost if it were produced in the USA. So, we have no one to blame but ourselves. Our greed has gotten us in a mess. In WW2 we had enough factories in operation that we could quickly modify the system in order to produce what was needed for war. We wouldn't be able to do that today. Any forward thinking leader would have to see the vulnerability and seriously consider if there is a do-able remedy.
I would and do pay more for an American made product. …… if I can find one. It President Trump let's China know that he has that option, I think they will see the light. Don't Americans buy most of their junk?
This statement is in the same vein as,"Immigrants do the jobs Americans refuse to". The correct thing to say would be, "Americans refuse to pay the outlandish margins expected from companies that make things in the US!" Show me how any company,cannot make a profit with US labor. Maybe not the profit shareholders would like, might have to cut back a small percentage on executive compensation. This whole problem started in the mid '50's when building and marketing a product became secondary to building a share price. If you look at a listing of the boards of directors and majority shareholders for major firms, you will find the same names repeated over and over again. This creates a one hand washes the other mindset and lockstep thinking takes over. Many companies, especially start ups are formed with no consideration to on shore production, but automatically look outside as an organic process to success. American greed certainly got us where we are today, but it was capitalist greed, not consumer greed! I have always been of the school that corporate taxes need to be linked to the benefit provided by the entity to its host region. Used to be that when a corporation was chartered by a state, some kind of phrase alluding to the "common good" was foremost in the charter. Used to mean that the factory would strive to be a good neighbor, provide employment to the locals, and just generally be a decent citizen. This has been perverted so that making a few stockholders and institutional investors rich, is construed as the "common good".
I don't think it's necessarily greed that is the cause, though that may be a contributor. There is also the fact that many Americans are poor and live below the poverty line. It is necessary to find the cheapest products to provide for their families. I would also like to see manufacturing return to America; I'm just not at all sure how that would happen. More likely if the companies leave China they will head to Vietnam, Thailand, etc. Our middle class is rapidly disappearing while other countries are experiencing growth of their middle class.