Funny that no one is mentioning the other critical key issue here....the greedy american worker/consumer.
People love to demonize the big faceless corporations for wanting to make maximum profit for their investment.
But what about the typical American worker who wants to make the most money and benefits for the least amount of work? Ya know, the folks who want to be "middle class" with a house in the burbs, 2.5 cars in the driveway and a comfy nest egg while doing labor or grunt jobs 37 hours a week.
You cannot make an "American product" that the thrifty American consumer will buy as long as the American worker is looking for maximum money for least work.
Illegal immigrants can find work so easily because no American wants to do the real grunt work for the low pay it can afford. Again, we are giving away work.
As Americans, we all want the MOST/BEST product for our money and want to spend less and less to get that. But we want the MOST money and BEST benefits for the least amount of work.
If its OK to tell corporations that they should make less profit then it should be Ok to tell the American worker to stop expecting to make $60k/yr with full benefits for grunt work.
$15/hr plus full benefits isn't a bad wage for inserting part A onto part B and attaching bolts 1,2,3,4 and 5 and sending it down the line.
Back in the day, assembly line work made sense to companies like Ford because it was CHEAP.
Unions have taken that benefit away.
Christ almighty....the local grocery store here had the BAGGERS trying to unionize! Who the hell ever heard of someone making a CAREER outr of baggiung groceries? That is supposed to be a kid's job or a job one takes to make extra money or as a stop gap when they find themselves out of a real job. But these baggers want full benefits!
SERIOUSLY!?!?
We will ALL have to bite the bullet some.....corporations as well as the consumer and employee...if we are to ever reverse the mess we are in.
American workers will have to give up some pay and/or benefits, the American consumer will have to pay a little more for everything and American comopanies will have to make a little less profit.....in that way, there will be more of everything to go around.
Until then, foreign companies and workers will be glad to do the work for the low pay that we wont accept and sell us products for less money and American companies will continue to find ways to stay in business while using other countries as production hubs for their products. .