The economy just of this country is very complicated, let alone when it competes with other countries, it's simply beyond understanding. For two decades now, it's been routine for US factories to assemble cars from parts made in Japan and Korea, even while Japan and Korea assemble cars from parts made in the US. Classical global trade theory says that should never happen, that the whole point of global trade is countries will specialize. A CEO who says "that job will go to Mexico" is just like the union boss who says, "your profits mean you can afford paying us more." They're both just selling something. Neither of them know what will happen next.

It's proven that American style labor unions increase wages even for non members, but it's also proven that they stagnate upward mobility and innovation. If somebody has a better idea about how to make a certain car part faster or better, the union has to be on board with trying it out just as much as the non union engineering staff. I'm comfortable in my household income in part because UAW pension earners are clients of my wife's business. I'm also an engineer so as much as I agree that they should be paid more and get better pensions, it's the details that really get to me, how they lay claim to factory equipment and wont let non union staff experiement with it, and how they will get in the way of the ordinary hiring and firing process, even when their workers make dumb mistakes that lead to recalls.

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