🏞@slashdottir further thoughts:
On most durable goods, I do not have a choice between US or China manufacturing. It is made in China and not in the US. The only choice I have is between ordering direct from China or paying a 10x markup to get the same thing from a redundant middleman. The whole narrative about undercutting US manufacturing with cheap labor is a red herring when there is no US manufacturing. The option to pay more to support a US worker does not exist.
In Europe I saw consumer goods made in Europe for sale. I don't see that here except for luxury items in foo foo shops.
On domestic food production, the market is set by large corporate operations with efficiency of scale and favorable government treatment. A small family farm simply cannot hit the same price point. They can easily deliver better quality, however.
US manufacturing is
- "Defense industry" weapons and ammo, bombs and bombers
- Auto makers that have been repeatedly propped up and bailed out by the federal govt and protected by tariffs (hence not viable without artificial life support)
- Very small and highly specialized industries that you've never heard of that can disappear overnight when their business model gets smashed by changing conditions
No textiles are made in the US. Outside of the defense industry, very little electronics manufacturing happens in the US.
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