I was a design Engineer and project manager for accomplishing productivity improvements for a large high tech company. I hired many, and fired a few, contributors. My job was to keep American workers competitive despite high salaries through productivity improvements. I was always successful at doing that.
Also I was always successful at finding ways to manufacture the most difficult innovative products that customers enjoyed.
Now I hear from conservatives that what I did is not possible. We should send all of our manufacturing overseas and reward those who gave up on achieving what I did every day.
The rape of the American worker.
And you all are proud of it because you can't even imagine what I accomplished every day.
My work put away a murderer, has been used to develop drugs, to fight cancer... My products were built here, by well paid, skilled, educated workers who actually earned their wages.
I have bought components from overseas, but I sure as hell never shipped jobs there nor was I especially happy with buying foreign product.
Conservatives have no lock on outsourcing. Apple Nike and Microsoft do it all the time and Gates, Balmer Jobs Parker are/were more Lib than you.
What hurt US manufacturing jobs was labor unions. Consumers demand competitive prices, and want to buy "Made in America", but when the chips are down, they will buy a Chinese TV every time.
There is no way that a worker twisting lug nuts in a Ford Factory is worth the 70 bucks/hour that he costs the Company when you factor in all the bennies.
Most people will buy a Kia. It's assembled right here in Montgomery AL with American labor. People can delude themselves into thinking they are buying American, but get more value for there money because the labor costs are $30/hour or so.