Sean Arble,
Not long ago I was attending a funeral where the funeral procession drove through an industrial area.
Building after building after building after building was vacant.
At one time, thriving businesses which employed thousands of people inhabited those buildings.
Over decades, slowly but surely, businesses were driven out of those buildings by a number of forces, mostly anti-business forces/legislation and absurd trade policies.
I think you're right, we have to reestablish a manufacturing base.
It can't be done overnight, but, if we don't do it, we'll never have substantive increases in employment.
Modern technology and the reliance on modern technology, kills the middle and lower class, as the work force in hi-tech inherently excludes those classes.
And, hi-tech replaces jobs with machines that don't require health insurance.
Machines that don't sue their employer or have minimum wage, union representation and limited work hours.
Donald Trump once made the claim that HE, not the bureaucrats in Washington, should negotiate our trade treaties.
And, I agree with him.
We as a nation must encourage the return of manufactuing, not villify it.
But, that can only happen with a symbiotic "Business-Government" policy, not an adversarial policy, which has existed for decades.
ONLY NOW are people waking up and understanding that BUSINESS is NOT an evil.
Business is more than desirable, it's Necessary if you want to increase employment and wages.
End of rant