If you noticed, the gap shot up big time during the Clinton Administration, I think due to the "free trade agreements" Perot warned us about. All incomes rose during this time, but the rich really got richer with the free trade agreements and cheap foreign labor. The first one was passed with a Democrat congress and senate with Bill Clinton signing off on it. Reagans tax cuts did help the rich, but it also stimulated the US economy. We still had our factories with Reagan. Money was invested here. With Nafta, things started moving south, then with Asian nations, then with China in 1998, they couldn't get the factories out fast enough. Especially the large corporate factories. Shoes went first, textiles next, then plastics, and others.
With the giant sucking sound, it took about 10% of our jobs which also provided health care for the workers and their families. If they had 4 per family, that translates to about 50-80 million people affected, which is about what was not coverned in health care alone. Hmmm. Has anyone made this connnection yet?
We can get some of our factories back, just by lowering corporate tax rates for manufacturing companies who build or have a factory in the US. The jobs created would reduce dependency on government and provide benefits for workers union or not.
Getting cheap low cost energy produced here would also help, not just consumers, but factories that need a lot of energy.
See the snowball effect. You don't have to lower ALL corporate rates, just manufacturers. Retailers and distributors will always be here to supply our consumers regardless of where the stuff is made.
We may not get all manufacturers back, but it will be a start.
Another way to help is for ALL government entities, fed, state, local, to only buy American made products, such as uniforms, vehicles, tools, office tools, etc. It might cost a little more, but the offset in keeping or bringing back a factory with workers paying taxes should be worth it.
RC
