Ronald Reagan said: “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!” I could not imagine anything bigger happening in my lifetime.
Trump presenting his reciprocal tariff list, may have seemed much less important. However, upon further thought, it may have been more powerful. Certainly more important to Americans. The fall of the “Evil Empire” was stunning. But who would have guessed that George H.W. Bush signing NAFTA into existence was probably the worst thing that could have happened to our country? Bush signed the bill; Bill Clinton continued the work of the Uni-party by executing NAFTA’s rules. Remember Lilliputian Ross Perot talking about “That sucking sound you hear.” In hindsight, he was 100 percent correct.
In the following years, more and more manufacturers moved overseas, or at least over the border to Canada and Mexico. Here’s how the scam worked: Factories in China, India, etc. would make goods or parts. Those parts were shipped to Mexico or Canada (avoiding exporting into the U.S.), then finished goods came across our borders “tariff-free,” so manufacturers could avoid those pesky American workers (who weren’t paid slave labor rates), but got all of the cost benefits.
See how that worked? Everybody got the power of products made for pennies on the dollar, with slave labor, without putting up with U.S. regulations for clean air, clean water, or tariffs. Pretty ingenious, huh? During that time, the manufacturers knowing that the gravy train could end, greased the skids by paying money that would eventually end up in the politicians pocket. What could be better?
So as time went on, the manufacturers that wanted to stay in the U.S., producing goods with American workers, became more and more scarce. The politicians, firmly in the pocket of these manufacturers, would roll out the same rhetoric each time they were challenged: “The American consumer benefits from low-priced goods.” That was the argument that created the Rust Belt that exists today.
Those were tough times for the Rust Belt. Growing up there, we could see the slow decay of the shuddered steel plant, and the fast decay of people’s ability to pay their bills. I remember traveling as an 18-year-old to different parts of the country where they seemed to be richer than anyone I knew back home. Everyone was driving nice cars, living in nice homes, and going to work in nice offices (as opposed to a factory floor). I think that was the disconnect. Much of the country didn’t do a lot of manufacturing to begin with, so when it was gone, no one noticed. Manufacturing was for “fly-over country,” and now, it was gone.
So, much like drug abuse, the Rust Belt got used to having nothing, and the cheap goods kept most Americans sleeping.
