There are a lot of reasons for the decline of manufacturing in America. Many of those reasons are related to trade deficits and the desire for cheap goods, but some are related to the cost of doing business in America. For better or worse, corporations in America who choose to operate within the law are required to pay their employees a minimum wage. We can debate over what that wage should be, but the fact of the matter is that a minimum wage exists. Some other countries have no qualms about employing slave labor or paying people very low wages. The Chinese have used Muslims as slave labor for years. So why would a manufacturing company want to locate in America? There are a number of incentives (in addition to the lowering of the corporate tax rate). America has dependable energy and is moving toward lowering the cost of energy. America protects property rights–the state cannot come in and simply take your business away. Innovation is also protected by patent and copyright laws. America represents a stable environment in which to do business. Changing the structure of tariffs also has moral component.<\/p>\n
On May 12, The Federalist<\/a> reported:<\/p>\n …But Trump\u2019s tariffs were not just economic, they were moral. Rather than relying on foreign countries, particularly China, that benefit from abusive labor practices, Trump put America first by deciding the U.S. must stop pretending inexpensive products come with no human cost.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n …During Trump\u2019s first term, his administration repeatedly highlighted human rights abuses abroad, especially in regions like China\u2019s Xinjiang province, where the Chinese Communist Party is running forced labor<\/a>\u00a0camps filled with\u00a0Uyghur Muslims<\/a>. More than a million Uyghurs and other Muslims have been detained by China and sent to reeducation camps in what is called the \u201cXinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Zone\u201d for a range of reasons<\/a>, including attending religious services, having more than three kids, or texting verses from the Quran.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n China forced many of its religiously and ethnically targeted workforce to toil away in factories, making products distributed and sold across the globe. Muslim slaves in China produce countless store shelves worth of goods, according<\/a> to the U.S. Department of Labor<\/a>, such as textiles, hair products, and aluminum, among many other things. They get extremely low pay, can\u2019t contact or visit their families (unless, in some circumstances, they are heavily surveilled by the government), and they can\u2019t leave.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n The article concludes:<\/p>\n Yes, U.S. prices may go up a bit in the short term.\u00a0Maybe American girls will find\u00a0two dolls<\/a>\u00a0under the Christmas tree\u00a0instead of 30, as President Trump suggested Sunday on Meet the Press<\/em>. Maybe U.S. students will sharpen five pencils instead of hoarding 250\u00a0like mini office supply tycoons.\u00a0But maybe underpaid workers in China won\u2019t have to literally slave away making\u00a0those dolls\u00a0or pencils for someone else\u2019s kid\u00a0in a distant Land of the Free.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n President\u00a0Trump believes temporary\u00a0price fluctuations are\u00a0a trade-off worth making\u00a0in the interim, and he is doing what no other president had the guts to do.\u00a0There is short-lived pain\u00a0before\u00a0lasting progress,\u00a0and Trump\u00a0is willing to take the heat now\u00a0to put human rights and American prosperity over easy profits.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There are a lot of reasons for the decline of manufacturing in America. Many of those reasons are related to trade deficits and the desire for cheap goods, but some are related to the cost of doing business in America. … Continue reading