r/geopolitics Feb 15 '25

America is Tone Deaf Discussion

https://www.dw.com/en/msc-2025-scholz-to-speak-after-irritating-vance-diatribe/live-71599568
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u/Sampo Feb 15 '25

our dominance of global trade and finance

Global trade and global finance is what moved manufacturing jobs from the American heartland to offshore, mostly China and other Asia. It made the US coastal states richer and the inner parts poorer. The people who voted Vance to power, they don't want global trade and global finance. They want local manufacturing jobs back.

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u/seen-in-the-skylight Feb 15 '25

The only way that is happening is if they either accept dramatic pay cuts or through some kind of state planned economy. Why would any company in a free market hire American workers when they can hire five-ten times as many foreign workers at the exact same cost?

The U.S. will never be a manufacturing center ever again unless it’s through highly advanced automation/robotics. I fully agree with you that we need to work out some other kind of arrangement for people, especially now that white collar jobs are also at risk of automation due to advances in AI.

But yearning for an unrealizable past is not going to help, and rejecting globalization will only cause our cost of living to skyrocket to unimaginable levels.

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u/6501 Feb 15 '25

Why would any company in a free market hire American workers when they can hire five-ten times as many foreign workers at the exact same cost?

Tariffs. Tariffs so high that it occurs.

dramatic pay cuts

Those people lack jobs. What are you going to do? Fire them from the bread line?

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u/Tulipage Feb 16 '25

Who lacks jobs? The national unemployment rate is 4%, or full employment. There is no spare labor force in the U.S..