> Manufacturing requires capital. We’ve had some of the highest effective tax rates on capital in the world for a while, and the Trump tax cuts didn’t help that

> Manufacturing requires capital. We’ve had some of the highest effective tax rates on capital in the world for a while, and the Trump tax cuts didn’t help that much. IMHO, that's mistaking a boogeyman for a cause. The real cause here is any policy that allows important productive capability to be moved away in search of short/medium term profit increases. The idea that you'd replace those jobs with higher-paying fluff was just a little sugar to make the poison taste better. Also, I can't remember exactly where I read it, but some well-known successful businessman candidly said that lower taxes actually make it less likely for him to invest profits back into his business.