Yes, but I'm realistic about the prospects of accomplishing that.
Textiles aren't coming back. Consumer electronics assembly probably isn't coming back (even if we manage to claw back chip fabbing from Korea and Vietnam, which frankly I'm not hopeful about).
Large appliance and furniture assembly we can probably claw back, as it only went south of the border.
A couple of billionaires who know logistics could get it done. Develop a new manufacturing city in a state with tax benefits and no minimum wage. Set up a distributed network to help franchise operators start their own small production lines and deliver straight to stores / ship to Amazon. Promote it as a new AMERICA FIRST industrial revolution to attract a built-in market of conservatives. Mike Lindell should have done that instead of creating a new store website.
Definitely some specialized items would always come from overseas, yeah.
I'll break down the industries I singled out there and why they won't be coming back.
Textile milling will not return to the US because it was (and remains) one of the most dangerous industries after deep sea fishing and subsurface mining. Textile mills operate in countries where life is cheap, because fingers and lungs will be lost and there is nothing that can be done automation wise to fix it. That's why it was one of the first industries to LEAVE the US in the post-WW2 world reconstruction.
Consumer electronics assembly happens typically where the injection molding is done. For this, both in the molding and integration, you need CHEAP laborers who are basically dexterous robots. We don't use robots because frankly products change designs often enough that automation isn't worth the effort. The same factory with people can produce multiple devices for multiple brands, with outwardly different shells but the same internals. The people can adapt faster than the machines can be reconfigured.
And in particular, LCD assembly will not come back to the US because it remains hideously toxic and only really feasible in countries with no water pollution standards.
We need a Bering Straits rail bridge.
It's technically possible, the maximum depth of the straits is barely 60 meters. We build oil rigs much deeper already.
We need to make things in America again.
Yes, but I'm realistic about the prospects of accomplishing that.
Textiles aren't coming back. Consumer electronics assembly probably isn't coming back (even if we manage to claw back chip fabbing from Korea and Vietnam, which frankly I'm not hopeful about).
Large appliance and furniture assembly we can probably claw back, as it only went south of the border.
A couple of billionaires who know logistics could get it done. Develop a new manufacturing city in a state with tax benefits and no minimum wage. Set up a distributed network to help franchise operators start their own small production lines and deliver straight to stores / ship to Amazon. Promote it as a new AMERICA FIRST industrial revolution to attract a built-in market of conservatives. Mike Lindell should have done that instead of creating a new store website.
Definitely some specialized items would always come from overseas, yeah.
I'll break down the industries I singled out there and why they won't be coming back.
Textile milling will not return to the US because it was (and remains) one of the most dangerous industries after deep sea fishing and subsurface mining. Textile mills operate in countries where life is cheap, because fingers and lungs will be lost and there is nothing that can be done automation wise to fix it. That's why it was one of the first industries to LEAVE the US in the post-WW2 world reconstruction.
Consumer electronics assembly happens typically where the injection molding is done. For this, both in the molding and integration, you need CHEAP laborers who are basically dexterous robots. We don't use robots because frankly products change designs often enough that automation isn't worth the effort. The same factory with people can produce multiple devices for multiple brands, with outwardly different shells but the same internals. The people can adapt faster than the machines can be reconfigured.
And in particular, LCD assembly will not come back to the US because it remains hideously toxic and only really feasible in countries with no water pollution standards.