The problem is that the US economy has been stuck in a pattern of extremely short term thinking.

Cheap foreign labor does have the immediate effect of raising the material standards of living for the lowest rung. But measured in terms of decades this effect is only temporary as it erodes manufacturing jobs.

Worse, when combined with a persistent trade deficit it also erodes investment. The lower classes primary form of investment is in their home, but massive foreign reserves of US currency leads to property speculation, pricing people out of the market.

Historically economic forces like these would have been reset with a good war (giving the state a reason to screw over foreign players), but nuclear weapons have taken war off the table.

So, we're forced into a situation where the only viable path forward is to go through hard withdrawal. Cold turkey, cut off the cheap labor supply and force price discovery to occur for domestic labor. In the short term, that means giving up ALL the material improvements that were gained from the cheap labor.

Trust us, there is light at the end of the tunnel. But the tunnel might be a few decades long.