Quote:you're saying the reality that manufacturing is an industry that is being replaced by robotics is a talking point?

 

You act as if the USA imposing heavy tariffs (it would take EXTREME tariffs to level the cost of manufacturing) against imports wouldn't have an effect on our exports. We are just as dependent on exporting to the world as we are on importing from the world. What you're suggesting is economic isolationism. It's a system that would limit the national GDP at a time when we owe more than ever.

 

The idea is bad on so many levels it's dangerous.

 

Yes, it is a talking point. Like I said there will always be human involvement in manufacturing, and if it were all robotics then it would already be done in the USA right now. I don't know why you think this is worth arguing.

 

It wouldn't take extreme tariffs, but extreme tariffs would be a good idea. The actual amount of labor involved in the manufacture of most items is a very marginal amount of its cost. Something as simple as assembling ipads would literally only take a few more dollars per unit to be assembled by Americans instead of the Chinese.

 

Still, a $100/unit tariff on ipads and iPhones would have production facilities in the US in months.

 

I'm not suggesting economic isolationism, right now the number one exports from the US are food and raw materials, the food the rest of the world will still want and will not try to have a trade war over, and the raw materials could be used in this country if we stopped exporting all of our production capability.

 

The dangerous ideas are the ones stuck in your head. The ones that keep telling you that rather than acting in the interests of the poor and middle class the USA has to keep kneeling further and further in deference to massive corporations.

---