Realism: Manufacturing Jobs Aren't Coming Back

Nobody can bring blue-collar jobs back - assuming you don't force companies to come back or stay here. And, I doubt a free-market proponent would be in favor of government coercion in capital choices. But you never know. Republicans were against deficits (Clinton), before they were for them (Bush) before they were against them (Obama). Also, what about the irony of Trump going after free-trade that his own party has been selling for the last 30+ years? Sure, triangulating Bill Clinton signed NAFTA, to his everlasting shame. But, by and large, free-trade has been a cornerstone of modern GOP economics. And many of the same people voting for Trump are the same ones who voted for candidates of that very same GOP!

The only way companies would voluntarily choose to come back is if there were incentives in place that would reduce their COGS (cost of goods sold) - which would require reducing COGS such that they were less than what they would be overseas. The chief component of COGS is often labor - and that translates to lower wages, which is not what America needs. What America needs is to become more competitive in the higher-paying white-collar jobs -- e.g. engineering. This means re-training former blue-collar workers into those higher paying jobs; or re-training them for labor-intensive jobs that are on the forefront of technology - e.g. solar, wind energy design and installation. America also needs to prioritize STEM education (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) because those are the cornerstone of high-paying jobs. Why have those jobs filled by Indian or Chinese workers when we can focus on our own citizens pursuing STEM careers? But all of this requires forward-thinking and investments that a reactionary Congress seems incapable of focusing on. They are missing the forest for the trees by staying entrenched in their ideology - or their need to be right - or their hostility to the occupant of the White House, etc. The world is going to pass America by if America does not get its act together and starts behaving like the super-power it is, not just militarily - but with investments in its people and its infrastructure. Progress is not cheap. But, leaders must be willing to make the hard choices when deciding where to invest and how much. Right now, the US has no such leadership.