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In a way, rural America was a tech bubble. In the 19th century and earlier, factories were in the city or near water. As the interstate system made shipping c

In a way, rural America was a tech bubble. In the 19th century and earlier, factories were in the city or near water. As the interstate system made shipping cheaper, factories moved out of the cities and coastlines for cheaper land and labor. Now container shipping has moved factories into cheaper countries altogether. But we have generations of people that have lived in these rural factory towns which now have no factory. The issue is real and Donald Trump was the only one addressing it. It's just too bad Donald Trump was the only one addressing it.

strange_quark 10y ago
But Trump didn't actually address it. He acknowledged the problem but didn't provide any tangible solution other than "I'm going to bring your jobs back" which is never going to happen. As you said, rural manufacturing was a buble.
- CoolGuySteve 10y ago
  He said he would renegotiate NAFTA, pull out of the TPP, and do something nebulous involving labeling China as a "currency manipulator". Earlier in his campaign he said he was going to introduce tariffs as well, but I guess that statement didn't count since it's no longer in his "Contract with the American Voter". These are all strategies to add economic friction to importing foreign goods. Then he has his immigration push to block importing cheap labour from abroad. The end result is that American manufacturing and farming done by American citizens will see some improvement but at the expense of the economy as a whole. I'm not sure if he or his advisers really think of the manufacturing decline as a logical advance of shipping technology. When framed that way, they seem like luddites tearing down the cotton mills. But the platform is definitely not as illogical as everyone makes it seem.
  - tzs 10y ago
    > These are all strategies to add economic friction to importing foreign goods. They also add economic friction to exporting US made goods, unless these renegotiations somehow manage to result in deals that are very one sided in favor of the US. The US exports about $310 billion worth of goods annually to Canada, and about $240 billion to Mexico. A lot of US jobs are involved in making those goods. For some reason I don't understand, exports almost always seem to get overlooked when politicians go on about trade.
cableshaft 10y ago
Well, he made empty promises for votes. I don't see any way he could realistically bring those jobs back, even with raising tariffs. I mean, if all it takes is having someone tell them "I'm a Democrat, and we're going to bring your jobs back, promise!", then liberals should start sending some random guy to all these places and saying that at town meetings and local public access channels on a weekly basis to prime and placate them early for the next election.
- CoolGuySteve 10y ago
  I wrote another comment in this thread detailing his platform. I think it's a terrible platform and may be ineffectual, but it still makes logical sense.
- tzs 10y ago
  You don't see how getting a big company to move their industrial robots from Mexico to the US will bring back jobs? As far as tariffs go, wouldn't raising tariffs actually encourage companies to move their factories outside the US, at least for the bigger companies? Most of the big manufacturing companies sell their products internationally. If the US slaps big tariffs on products made in country X, presumably country X is going to return the favor with big tariffs on products made in the USA. As long as the other countries keep their free trade agreements intact among them, so that these tariffs only end up applying to products that go to or come from the USA, then a company that builds its products in the US ends up paying tariffs on sales to every country except the US. A company that builds its factory in one of the other countries ends up paying tariffs on ONLY sales in the US. The US is a big market compared to most other individual countries, but if we get into a big tit-for-tat tariff situation it isn't the size of other individual country markets that matter. It is the size of the combined markets of the countries in various tariff-free associations.
  - cableshaft 10y ago
    Thanks for your thoughts. That is indeed why he will be unsuccessful at bringing the jobs (especially the manufacturing jobs) back into the country.

strange_quark 10y ago

But Trump didn't actually address it. He acknowledged the problem but didn't provide any tangible solution other than "I'm going to bring your jobs back" which is never going to happen. As you said, rural manufacturing was a buble.

CoolGuySteve 10y ago
He said he would renegotiate NAFTA, pull out of the TPP, and do something nebulous involving labeling China as a "currency manipulator". Earlier in his campaign he said he was going to introduce tariffs as well, but I guess that statement didn't count since it's no longer in his "Contract with the American Voter". These are all strategies to add economic friction to importing foreign goods. Then he has his immigration push to block importing cheap labour from abroad. The end result is that American manufacturing and farming done by American citizens will see some improvement but at the expense of the economy as a whole. I'm not sure if he or his advisers really think of the manufacturing decline as a logical advance of shipping technology. When framed that way, they seem like luddites tearing down the cotton mills. But the platform is definitely not as illogical as everyone makes it seem.
- tzs 10y ago
  > These are all strategies to add economic friction to importing foreign goods. They also add economic friction to exporting US made goods, unless these renegotiations somehow manage to result in deals that are very one sided in favor of the US. The US exports about $310 billion worth of goods annually to Canada, and about $240 billion to Mexico. A lot of US jobs are involved in making those goods. For some reason I don't understand, exports almost always seem to get overlooked when politicians go on about trade.

cableshaft 10y ago

Well, he made empty promises for votes. I don't see any way he could realistically bring those jobs back, even with raising tariffs. I mean, if all it takes is having someone tell them "I'm a Democrat, and we're going to bring your jobs back, promise!", then liberals should start sending some random guy to all these places and saying that at town meetings and local public access channels on a weekly basis to prime and placate them early for the next election.

CoolGuySteve 10y ago
I wrote another comment in this thread detailing his platform. I think it's a terrible platform and may be ineffectual, but it still makes logical sense.
tzs 10y ago
You don't see how getting a big company to move their industrial robots from Mexico to the US will bring back jobs? As far as tariffs go, wouldn't raising tariffs actually encourage companies to move their factories outside the US, at least for the bigger companies? Most of the big manufacturing companies sell their products internationally. If the US slaps big tariffs on products made in country X, presumably country X is going to return the favor with big tariffs on products made in the USA. As long as the other countries keep their free trade agreements intact among them, so that these tariffs only end up applying to products that go to or come from the USA, then a company that builds its products in the US ends up paying tariffs on sales to every country except the US. A company that builds its factory in one of the other countries ends up paying tariffs on ONLY sales in the US. The US is a big market compared to most other individual countries, but if we get into a big tit-for-tat tariff situation it isn't the size of other individual country markets that matter. It is the size of the combined markets of the countries in various tariff-free associations.
- cableshaft 10y ago
  Thanks for your thoughts. That is indeed why he will be unsuccessful at bringing the jobs (especially the manufacturing jobs) back into the country.