alright, i'm going to say something here and try and be as dispassionate as humanly possible in doing so.
When you import 90% of your necessary metals, first because it was cheaper, and then because your infrastructure for making the necessary materials has left the country, that is a security risk. You are then dependent on other nations, yes, even allies to supply possibly necessary materials, and if they don't agree with your politics they have the ability to cut you off from those necessary supplies at THEIR whim.
That we don't actually get this all from CHINA i understand, but like OPEC does with oil, the Chinese have undercut steel and aluminum prices so much that they drove the majority of US steel manufacturers out of business or at least out of the country. I know Mexico is simply importing Chinese steel and reselling it to the US, the argument is that Canadian and EU suppliers have been doing the same by Trans-shipping through places like Vietnam.
What Trump SEEMS to be trying to do is two fold;
1-Make the US economy self-sustainable by limiting the NEED for imports of various materials except as maybe raw-bulk materials. What my reading of the economy of the last almost 50 years is a slide away from manufacturing to a service based economy. (Basically it seems to me that we've been being coerced into becoming the sales clerk and beurocrat class of a world government)
2-Through performing the first act, creating jobs that allow people to spend money to bolster our economy without building up other economies, (friendly or not) allowing us to reinforce that independence from the World market.
Let me be blunt, Unions have destroyed several industries in the US, most notably the electronics industry. Most of us haven't noticed it because it happened before a lot of us were born, or else when we were really young. Find a Television or a computer that says "Made in the USA" on all its parts. You can't because the only thing we seem to make anymore is silicon chips in specialized factories in California. (OK, there are other places in the US i'm sure, but California is the most famous for it). The big one hits and Cali goes sliding into the ocean, how long is it going to take for that industry to be rebuilt. Under standard Capitalism, it likely wouldn't be as it would be cheaper to buy from overseas and ship to the US at that point. Reality is that because it is an industry that is needed by the defense department for various equipment, at least two new facilities would be built, probably in the district of whichever congress-critter had the most pull at the time. But i digress, back in the 70's and early 80's you could find things like TV repairmen, (used here as a general, non-sexist label) who you could either take a TV to to have it repaired, or else some would come out to your house to do the work. By the 90's there were practically none, and this was for two reasons, first the Union, (i forget which one actually covered this, they are out of business now anyway i believe) required repairmen to charge so much for repair, (or build in the US) and the cost to replace one got so cheap, that where TV's were concerned we just threw a broken one away and replaced it with a new one. It helped that the new ones were able to use new features like easily hooking into VCRs and other electronics, and then the flatscreen revolution occured and no one can even work on those really. You're required to toss them as everything is solid state and Liquid Crystal Display.
sorry i rambled a bit there. The point is that by getting the US's steel industry handling our steel needs instead of importing steel, we will be better off as a nation in the long run. In the short term, yeah its gonna suck, but like with oil and natural gas drilling, being independent is much better.
When you import 90% of your necessary metals, first because it was cheaper, and then because your infrastructure for making the necessary materials has left the country, that is a security risk. You are then dependent on other nations, yes, even allies to supply possibly necessary materials, and if they don't agree with your politics they have the ability to cut you off from those necessary supplies at THEIR whim.
That we don't actually get this all from CHINA i understand, but like OPEC does with oil, the Chinese have undercut steel and aluminum prices so much that they drove the majority of US steel manufacturers out of business or at least out of the country. I know Mexico is simply importing Chinese steel and reselling it to the US, the argument is that Canadian and EU suppliers have been doing the same by Trans-shipping through places like Vietnam.
What Trump SEEMS to be trying to do is two fold;
1-Make the US economy self-sustainable by limiting the NEED for imports of various materials except as maybe raw-bulk materials. What my reading of the economy of the last almost 50 years is a slide away from manufacturing to a service based economy. (Basically it seems to me that we've been being coerced into becoming the sales clerk and beurocrat class of a world government)
2-Through performing the first act, creating jobs that allow people to spend money to bolster our economy without building up other economies, (friendly or not) allowing us to reinforce that independence from the World market.
Let me be blunt, Unions have destroyed several industries in the US, most notably the electronics industry. Most of us haven't noticed it because it happened before a lot of us were born, or else when we were really young. Find a Television or a computer that says "Made in the USA" on all its parts. You can't because the only thing we seem to make anymore is silicon chips in specialized factories in California. (OK, there are other places in the US i'm sure, but California is the most famous for it). The big one hits and Cali goes sliding into the ocean, how long is it going to take for that industry to be rebuilt. Under standard Capitalism, it likely wouldn't be as it would be cheaper to buy from overseas and ship to the US at that point. Reality is that because it is an industry that is needed by the defense department for various equipment, at least two new facilities would be built, probably in the district of whichever congress-critter had the most pull at the time. But i digress, back in the 70's and early 80's you could find things like TV repairmen, (used here as a general, non-sexist label) who you could either take a TV to to have it repaired, or else some would come out to your house to do the work. By the 90's there were practically none, and this was for two reasons, first the Union, (i forget which one actually covered this, they are out of business now anyway i believe) required repairmen to charge so much for repair, (or build in the US) and the cost to replace one got so cheap, that where TV's were concerned we just threw a broken one away and replaced it with a new one. It helped that the new ones were able to use new features like easily hooking into VCRs and other electronics, and then the flatscreen revolution occured and no one can even work on those really. You're required to toss them as everything is solid state and Liquid Crystal Display.
sorry i rambled a bit there. The point is that by getting the US's steel industry handling our steel needs instead of importing steel, we will be better off as a nation in the long run. In the short term, yeah its gonna suck, but like with oil and natural gas drilling, being independent is much better.
Wolf wins every fight but the one where he dies, fangs locked around the throat of his opponent.
Currently writing BROBd
Currently writing BROBd