Charles is invoking the Big Lie.
Union membership has gone from 36% in 1954 to 11.9% today.
The jobs went overseas as union membership shrank by two thirds.
Fewer unions means fewer jobs.
Because they are out of control and are not working with business to be sustainable.
When the workers in foreign factories make 30 cents an hour building products that are shipped directly to the U.S.,
how much would an American have to work for to build the same product here,
for that business to be 'sustainable'?
Blame the supporters of NAFTA, CAFTA, FTAA, Privileged trade with China and every free trade agreement we have with a nation that unfairly suppresses workers, or subsidizes industry to undercut ours.
Civilization has a cost as I keep saying. If you open your doors to a nation that has a great disparity of cultural costs like we have with China and India and Mexico, where the cost of living is so much lower and workers are not compensated fairly as compared to our own standards, not to mention government interference and protectionism in the market, you must expect this to happen as it is your own fault.
So what's the answer?
1. Trade barriers between the US and other nations that 'unfairly' compete.
Consequence: Prices go up all over, but unemployment goes down as companies and unions are protected from unfair competition. Possible trade war and other problems that hurt the consumer, like other nations closing off their markets.
2. Tariffs and duties on imports equal to SOME of the disparity between US owned and run industries based on amount of unfair cultural and governmental advantage.
Consequence: Trade war and repercussions blocking access from US goods forcing a glut on domestic markets driving down prices and weakening the domestic industry from protected increased costs with reduced income. This can also include 'counter' government protection where tariffs and duties offset unfair advantage given to nation by an industry in which to be unfairly competitive in foreign markets (like devalued currency, tax subsidies, slave labor)
3. Allow free trade with our allies.
Consequence: Cheap goods from abroad ships US capital to other nations who are willing to trade and on friendly terms (in theory). Downside is destruction to domestic industry who can't compete with lower (culturally/artificially created) prices to goods, causing unemployment and reduced domestic industrial capacity. Reduced tax/duty revenue to government. Reduction in smuggling of legal goods to avoid taxation from those nations
4. Global free trade allowed.
Consequence: Domestic industry goes to the cheapest foreign markets quickly, causing much unemployment and shrinkage in the US economy. This is offset by much cheaper goods coming to the US that may or may not meet US quality. US must decline economically to trend more towards the global average in lifestyle and cost willingly or by collapse. This will continue till the US is no longer the top market and then it will slow as it's dominance decreases and others who have gained from our decline will take over dominance of the market. If they do not proscribe to free trade, the US will be hard pressed to recover using foreign trade till it shuts the door on global goods, causing another trade war harming consumers.
So you can see, all the options suck, but protectionism, to some degree or another MUST be used based on maintaining our cultural values and standard of living. If you don't care about such things, we can have free trade for a while, and then decline to the level of France or Lichtenstein or South Africa, but rebounding in a world that understands economic warfare will be almost impossible to rebound from.
