While strolling through the blogosphere, I came across the following item, which should be of interest to any American who feels that we must have a strong domestic industrial base. Service jobs are important. The military has a role for sure, although bloated by incessant war. Agriculture is also essential. What helped make America great and become the superpower it has now become, was due in major part because the U.S. was "the Arsenal of Democracy." That arsenal helped our country to contribute to crushing the original Axis of Evil during WW2. That arsenal provided most of the muscle feeding the MIC (Mlitary-Industrial Complex).
Although the MIC has proven to be a mixed blessing, American manufacturing was potent until Reaganomics and the DLC mightily weakened manufacturing here at home.
making "made in America" happen
Sam Walton was a simple man, even after he became filthy rich. He did not have an ornate office and kept his business in the then small town of Benton, Arkansas. Initially under Mr. Sam, American made goods were preferentially sold by Wal-Mart. Now his heirs who are obscenely rich have become extremely skilled at squeezing the last dollar's effort out of their employees with low wages, absent health benefits, curtailing work hours so that workers do not qualify for advantages conferred on "full-time" workers, etc. The greed of the Walton family is further epitomized by their 180˚ turn from the Made in America goal at the enterprise's inception, to one in which millions of US jobs have been deleted by low wage countries, particularly China.
Even though it is true that in recent times, 99% of new wealth has gone to oligarchs, CEOs and others sucking the juice out of the majority of our population, a strong domestic manufacturing capability combined with better wages, pay equity, and expansion of trade unionism (if the workers so elect) will do much to enhance the opportunities to "spread the wealth" by better tax and trade policy than currently exists. Lots needs to be done in restoring economic viability to a shrinking middle class, let alone bring opportunities to those under middle class threshold by which to join and expand our depleted middle class.
Bringing those jobs onshore once again will give a tremendous boost to efforts aimed at achieving income equity. Of course many other issues need to be successfully dealt with in order to bring about this need alteration of the domestic economy. Without going into excessive detail, enumeration of several areas may serve as examples:
Bringing back offshore capital of U.S.-based corporations harboring in tax havens
More advantageous trade deals from the workers' standpoints than NAFTA, TPP etc.
Restoring the ability of domestic workers to once again forge strong labor unions
End reckless Wall Street Gambling--especially with our money bailing them out. The rich wail about income redistribution--what was the Wall Street bail-out except a massive income redistribution to the already rich?
Ending too big to fail / too big to jail mentality
And the list goes on and on and on….
I do not claim to have the answers to these problems, but many Progressives have outlined detailed steps to void the notorious inequities in our modern economy (and thank you, EW, for leading the charge!)
The Chicago plan, Manufacturing Works aided by the Jane Addams project, makes me proud of my hometown, and serves as a guide for adoption of this and similar projects nationwide.