Porteroso said:
EatMoreSalmon said:
We are a very impatient people. The foundation of the economy is much better than it was last year. Unfortunately, we haven't started seeing the wall framing going up yet.
Most of our older generations worked their way up the ladder to gain whatever success they had as their goal. Post WWII generations - all of them - were blessed with a lot more opportunities than people before that war. A younger generation that sees a time of contraction gets nervous that they won't have those same opportunities. The vast majority of them are not starving, but they are having a harder time getting started than their parents.
Gen X faced this coming out of the rampant inflation of the late 70's and the booming cost of housing. This is not new, except to the ones who haven't experienced it - the younger generation of the time.
We still live in a place with a lot more opportunities than just about any other. We just had a misguided couple of administrations weakening the economic foundations of the country. The last one in particular. It will take more than 8 months to get the economy turned.
What about the "foundation of the economy" is stronger? Any perceived foundational improvements are built upon paper. Tariffs might be taken away by SCOTUS or Congress at any point.
Until the investment happens and manufacturing is actually brought back, any perceived improvement is a simple function of a new tax levied upon those that were already struggling.
As Ford proved, you can build billion dollar factories and still make more money not using them, than using them. For jobs to have been created by Japanese investments, they have to actually he created. Until then it is a big gamble.
American workers can not compete with slave wages in the 3rd world.
Or unfair protectionist practices by our geo-strategic adversaries (China) and even our allies....who protect their markets and workers....while exploiting ours
So you either give up and accept that manufacturing jobs will be expelled to other countries (including military rivals) or you do something like tariffs to even the playing field for American companies and workers.
For 30 plus years we have done nothing.....Trump is using Tariffs
Do you have another idea?
PS.....Even the Atlantic magazine has now realized if you can't build ships (or build other things) then you are going to lose a war against a large country that can. And you will also lose the ability to protect yourself and your allies
[China's shipbuilding industry is significantly larger and more dominant globally than that of the United States, which has a minimal share of the commercial market.
China's capacity is estimated to be over 200 times that of the U.S. and builds thousands of commercial vessels annually compared to the U.S.'s small output]
[
The USA built only two U.S. Navy ships and five commercial merchant ships in 2024.... The US built approximately 500 merchant ships alone in just 1942 and by the end of the war American shipyards had produced 5,788 warships and 66,000 landing craft. Along with thousands of merchant ships to carry goods to allied nations]
