As crazy as he sounds at times Donald Trump is touting tariffs to force manufacturers back onshore. It will take a lot to turn things around, but to just accept things as they are now and say that's our only option is giving up and letting the people who got us here win. If you think we're all wage slaves now wait until we are taxed even more to pay for all the people who aren't working for various reasons as well as to service the ever growing debt.
Trust me, I'm with you, government needs to shrink, problem is, it's too late, we built a system that can't collapse, almost ponzi like, it would take tax revenue with it, same as if your income declines, but you still have a huge credit card payment, not good.
Tarrifs are exactly what we need, but will start a trade war, and weimar-esk inflation as chinas reserves flow back into our country while simultaneously driving bond yields to the moon, plus our lack of a manufacturing base would cause the prices of goods to soar. Also, imports are how we finance our government spending, when you buy a TV made in China those dollars go overseas to the PBOC, which in turn prints yuan to pay the factory that made the TV in local currency, and holds those US dollars in reserve by buying US Treasury bonds, so everytime you buy chinese, or any country, you finance US government spending.
Manufacturing was at its prime after WW2 because most of the world was in ruble, the US was the only remaining industrial nation capable of producing and exporting, which created massive wealth, along with unions which created the so called middle class, we will never see those days again. China the largest manufacturing economy in the world pays the "employees" next to nothing, I guess maybe they should work harder, or learn a trade lol.
I don't hate business, or think they are evil, the simple fact is the sole purpose of a business is to maximize wealth, at all costs including its employees, country, and environment. Rules need to balance it out, or the system collapses, much like monopoly which was based off the sherman act, and designed to show what happens when wealth is consolidated in too few hands, the game can either end, you can borrow from the bank, like we do in this country right now, or balance it out, call it socialism if you want, but the game cannot end.