We need a snow globe with you visage on a pedestal holding something of your choice - maybe a writing instrument and of course Uncle MAGA somewhere in there, maybe selling T-shirts at the base of the monument.
Very good piece here Ivana!
People need to understand that globalization was starting as early as before WW1 and was to the benefit of the same players back then, as you cited today. This is not new and as you rightly observed will not be fixed in a decade or two - especially because the cancerous tumors keep spawning new baby cells that infect the body - baby soros anyone??
Of course, all things being equal, there is nothing wrong with having a hand knit wool sweater form Ireland on the shelf with one form the U.S., in either country. Like wise for any product or service out there, so long as there is no "welfare" given to one or the other. The consumer will decide which will sell and which will not.
However, when it comes to manufacturing (makin' stuff) that is a problem and off shoring was and still is a big problem. As you said Ivana, people in these once great manufacturing towns - who's biggest industry is now a Super-Walmart - have long memories and it's why the working class can easily identify with President Trump, a Billionaire, over Scranton, Lunchbox, Corn-puff eating, drooler Joe - the all american kid.
One of the commenters asked, "So what do you see as the first step the American worker should be taking to create real action to rebuild this country?"
Answer: Get off your asses, get deeply involved in your local and federal government and fight to keep the globalist, America hating, marxist, communists and deep staters (one in the same) out of any seats of power. This all happened because conservative Americans sat back and wallowed in the Comfort, Convenience and Entertainment they were generationally sold by the regimes (globalists). They tossed their responsibilities aside and allowed themselves to be beaten into poverty and apathy by the cudgels of tolerance and acceptance - Many have "for the greater good" stamped in their foreheads, from when the leftists punched them in the brain - Rick James style.
You crawl up the poop chute of your governments, gut them and then install populists who will put you, your freedom, your country and your culture first, before all else. You do not let idiot bartenders and muslim terrorist supporters into your governments. No perverts, no pedophiles and no money launderers.
But wait, that means you will actually have to do work, study, sacrifice movies, netflix, sports, weekends and maybe even a few mani-pedis or tailgate expenditures.
And there's where 90% of the angry working class - don't show up - and why we had the last 4 years and the train wreck of a country since Clinton (yes that includes Trump's term as 45, because he didn't know what he didn't know).
76 million had better use this next 3+ years to step up, do the work and take their places on the line. This is not Trump's, JD's, Elon's, or anyone else in the Executive Cabinet's fight - it is ours and we've run from it for decades.
Either show up and shoulder the responsibility of citizenship or STFU and get out of the way. There is no middle choice now.
"Globalism isn’t a party. It’s an economic virus that’s infected both sides of the aisle—and it’s still spreading, despite all the political shake-ups."
Yup. Clinton signed NAFTA into law in 1993, the year after the 1992 election. Interestingly, that election featured an eccentric third-party candidate who, uniquely amongst the candidates, warned of NAFTA's long-term dangers.
(Where have you gone, Mr. Perot? A nation turns its bankrupt eyes to you.)
Since then, while the Ds and the Rs have been happy to duke it out over any number of controversial but relatively small-fry social issues, pursuing free trade agreements has been a bipartisan effort. Ladies and gents, pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.
Nice sentiments for sure…but face it…AI, robots, and technology are the future of industrial production. Who needs people? Maybe a few to keep the robots running and for quality control. The good old days of skilled and semiskilled factory workers building stuff and maintaining stuff for good wages and pensions are over. The robots and machines are running the show, and they are faster, more efficient, and more productive than people. Goodbye factory whistles, punch cards & time clocks, lunch pails, work boots, and hard hats…hello shiny robots, technicians, and computer control centers. It’s a brave new world.
I agree, though I've heard that it's the white collar jobs that are going to be hit soon by AI, as these large language models do so many intellectual tasks faster, more efficiently, and—soon—more accurately than people in many paper pushing office jobs. (Lots of good perspective here: https://substack.com/@amandaclaypool/posts)
Lately I've been pondering the optimistic view, that tech might actually help save the day because it can replace the workers who don't exist.
By that I am referring to the steep (and continuing) decline in population growth since our days of manufacturing—we simply do not have the human-power to run things in the old way even if we could restore old-school manufacturing. On top of that, the chronic health issues that have beset people at younger ages (which RFK Jr is focused on addressing) make a subsection of the working age population difficult to employ, or even unemployable. So the workforce pool is going to be significantly smaller than in decades past, making AI and robotics an actual boon to our shrinking society since fewer people will be needed to keep things running.
But even if that optimism is a correct analysis, it's going to be a tumultuous and painful process to sort out the viable jobs and needs of the available humans to do them.
Thanks for your thoughtful reply. And AI sure looks to be, like most technologies, both a blessing and a curse. I’ve heard that AI robots might even replace surgeons, so, hold on to your seat because we’re in for a wild ride.
Restoring manufacturing to America assumes there’s a large cohort of unemployed workers with the fitness, skills and desire to work in factories. Is there?
18% of Americans are 65+. Meanwhile the median age in Vietnam is 33.
Skills and education? China STEM graduates exceed 3.57 million annually (40% of graduates).
U.S. graduates 584K STEM annually (20% of graduates).
Fitness? 40% of Americans are obese. Opioid addiction is rampant. And many cannot access or afford basic health care. US life expectancy is 77.5 years. Canada’s 81.3, Japan 84.5.
Highly paid unionized auto manufacturing jobs are the exception, not the rule. Bottom line: are Americans willing to work making shoes and garments for minimum wage?
The minimum wage is so bad BECAUSE of globalisation in the first place.
Anyway its not about garments & shoes - those are low-value adding jobs - its about electronics and tech. Also the focus on graduates is misguided as nobody needed a degree for a decent job back in the industrial economy - they had a thing called workplace training.
I don’t see the Trump Regime rushing to raise US minimum wage. According a 2021 Pew Resesrch minimum wage study:
“While 87% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents say they favor increasing the wage to $15 an hour (including 61% who strongly favor it), 72% of Republicans and GOP leaners oppose the idea (including 45% who strongly oppose it).”
And if high tech manufacturing is a goal, why does Mad King Trump want to abolish the $52.7 billion CHIPS and Science Act, which semiconductor manufacturers have relied on for expansion projects across the country?
From CNN:
“Dan Ives, global head of technology research at financial services firm Wedbush Securities, told CNN’s Erin Burnett that the idea (of restoring the iPhone manufacturing) is a “fictional tale.”
US-made iPhones could cost more than three times their current price of around $1,000, he added, because it would be necessary to replicate the highly complex production ecosystem that currently exists in Asia.
“ ‘You build that (supply chain) in the US with a fab in West Virginia and New Jersey. They’ll be $3,500 iPhones,’ “
“And even then, it would cost Apple about $30 billion and three years to move just 10% of their supply chain to the US”
Here in Canada, many are now boycotting US products whenever possible. While I hate to leave the Apple technology ecosystem, my next phone will likely be Samsung not iPhone. I suspect similar sentiments in the EU and other former allies the US has declared economic war on.
You raise some valid points, but it’s important to look at the bigger picture. Raising the minimum wage might be a popular sentiment among Democrats, but there’s a complex debate about how to balance it without causing unintended economic consequences, like job losses or inflation. As for the CHIPS Act, I understand the concern, but Trump’s position on it was more about reshoring manufacturing, not about eliminating support for semiconductor growth altogether. And yes, moving iPhone production to the U.S. would be a massive logistical and financial undertaking—no argument there. However, the key to economic revitalization is finding a sustainable balance between encouraging domestic production, keeping costs manageable, and ensuring fair wages without stifling growth. And regarding Canada, I think it's a bigger question of how U.S. policies are perceived globally—there’s a lot of frustration, but it’s not always as simple as boycotting products. The global market is far more interconnected than people realize.
I’m against globalism but I’m for Americanism. And I mean continental America- Canada and Mexico combined with the US would create a powerful trading block well able to negotiate prosperous deals with the EU, China, whoever. If we are going to disentangle with the old world and its old patterns of wars and animosities, let’s unite the new, the AU- the American Union , and from that position of unified strength, dictate proper trade relations.
In the olden days every generation or-there-abouts endured a major war. Many young men were killed off and there was often a "lost generation" - while the men were either dead or shattered by their wartime trauma they were accompanied by a matching generation of spinster women who couldn't find husbands (and were sentenced to a life of poverty in those days).
I often wonder whether in the absence of such a major war my generation (GenX) has experienced the same effect through globalisation. A whole generation of people in the West missed out on getting well-paid jobs in industry and then missed out on home ownership and family formation as a result. And on top of it all our govts have responded by basically en-masse replacement of their own people though immigration. I would sooner have lived & fought my way through WW2 than endure the current malaise. At least there was the prosperous & bright postwar life that followed.
We need a snow globe with you visage on a pedestal holding something of your choice - maybe a writing instrument and of course Uncle MAGA somewhere in there, maybe selling T-shirts at the base of the monument.
Very good piece here Ivana!
People need to understand that globalization was starting as early as before WW1 and was to the benefit of the same players back then, as you cited today. This is not new and as you rightly observed will not be fixed in a decade or two - especially because the cancerous tumors keep spawning new baby cells that infect the body - baby soros anyone??
Of course, all things being equal, there is nothing wrong with having a hand knit wool sweater form Ireland on the shelf with one form the U.S., in either country. Like wise for any product or service out there, so long as there is no "welfare" given to one or the other. The consumer will decide which will sell and which will not.
However, when it comes to manufacturing (makin' stuff) that is a problem and off shoring was and still is a big problem. As you said Ivana, people in these once great manufacturing towns - who's biggest industry is now a Super-Walmart - have long memories and it's why the working class can easily identify with President Trump, a Billionaire, over Scranton, Lunchbox, Corn-puff eating, drooler Joe - the all american kid.
One of the commenters asked, "So what do you see as the first step the American worker should be taking to create real action to rebuild this country?"
Answer: Get off your asses, get deeply involved in your local and federal government and fight to keep the globalist, America hating, marxist, communists and deep staters (one in the same) out of any seats of power. This all happened because conservative Americans sat back and wallowed in the Comfort, Convenience and Entertainment they were generationally sold by the regimes (globalists). They tossed their responsibilities aside and allowed themselves to be beaten into poverty and apathy by the cudgels of tolerance and acceptance - Many have "for the greater good" stamped in their foreheads, from when the leftists punched them in the brain - Rick James style.
You crawl up the poop chute of your governments, gut them and then install populists who will put you, your freedom, your country and your culture first, before all else. You do not let idiot bartenders and muslim terrorist supporters into your governments. No perverts, no pedophiles and no money launderers.
But wait, that means you will actually have to do work, study, sacrifice movies, netflix, sports, weekends and maybe even a few mani-pedis or tailgate expenditures.
And there's where 90% of the angry working class - don't show up - and why we had the last 4 years and the train wreck of a country since Clinton (yes that includes Trump's term as 45, because he didn't know what he didn't know).
76 million had better use this next 3+ years to step up, do the work and take their places on the line. This is not Trump's, JD's, Elon's, or anyone else in the Executive Cabinet's fight - it is ours and we've run from it for decades.
Either show up and shoulder the responsibility of citizenship or STFU and get out of the way. There is no middle choice now.
Good response!
Thank you Karen.
Finished a little hot, but it’s the needed tone, of late.
"Globalism isn’t a party. It’s an economic virus that’s infected both sides of the aisle—and it’s still spreading, despite all the political shake-ups."
Yup. Clinton signed NAFTA into law in 1993, the year after the 1992 election. Interestingly, that election featured an eccentric third-party candidate who, uniquely amongst the candidates, warned of NAFTA's long-term dangers.
(Where have you gone, Mr. Perot? A nation turns its bankrupt eyes to you.)
Since then, while the Ds and the Rs have been happy to duke it out over any number of controversial but relatively small-fry social issues, pursuing free trade agreements has been a bipartisan effort. Ladies and gents, pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.
Nice sentiments for sure…but face it…AI, robots, and technology are the future of industrial production. Who needs people? Maybe a few to keep the robots running and for quality control. The good old days of skilled and semiskilled factory workers building stuff and maintaining stuff for good wages and pensions are over. The robots and machines are running the show, and they are faster, more efficient, and more productive than people. Goodbye factory whistles, punch cards & time clocks, lunch pails, work boots, and hard hats…hello shiny robots, technicians, and computer control centers. It’s a brave new world.
I agree, though I've heard that it's the white collar jobs that are going to be hit soon by AI, as these large language models do so many intellectual tasks faster, more efficiently, and—soon—more accurately than people in many paper pushing office jobs. (Lots of good perspective here: https://substack.com/@amandaclaypool/posts)
Lately I've been pondering the optimistic view, that tech might actually help save the day because it can replace the workers who don't exist.
By that I am referring to the steep (and continuing) decline in population growth since our days of manufacturing—we simply do not have the human-power to run things in the old way even if we could restore old-school manufacturing. On top of that, the chronic health issues that have beset people at younger ages (which RFK Jr is focused on addressing) make a subsection of the working age population difficult to employ, or even unemployable. So the workforce pool is going to be significantly smaller than in decades past, making AI and robotics an actual boon to our shrinking society since fewer people will be needed to keep things running.
But even if that optimism is a correct analysis, it's going to be a tumultuous and painful process to sort out the viable jobs and needs of the available humans to do them.
Thanks for your thoughtful reply. And AI sure looks to be, like most technologies, both a blessing and a curse. I’ve heard that AI robots might even replace surgeons, so, hold on to your seat because we’re in for a wild ride.
The new economy still needs consumers however - while as you point out no longer needing workers. How to solve that puzzle?
Contrarian view.
Restoring manufacturing to America assumes there’s a large cohort of unemployed workers with the fitness, skills and desire to work in factories. Is there?
18% of Americans are 65+. Meanwhile the median age in Vietnam is 33.
Skills and education? China STEM graduates exceed 3.57 million annually (40% of graduates).
U.S. graduates 584K STEM annually (20% of graduates).
Fitness? 40% of Americans are obese. Opioid addiction is rampant. And many cannot access or afford basic health care. US life expectancy is 77.5 years. Canada’s 81.3, Japan 84.5.
Highly paid unionized auto manufacturing jobs are the exception, not the rule. Bottom line: are Americans willing to work making shoes and garments for minimum wage?
In case you want an answer here it is:
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3e/US_federal_minimum_wage_if_it_had_kept_pace_with_productivity._Also%2C_the_inflation-adjusted_minimum_wage.png
The minimum wage is so bad BECAUSE of globalisation in the first place.
Anyway its not about garments & shoes - those are low-value adding jobs - its about electronics and tech. Also the focus on graduates is misguided as nobody needed a degree for a decent job back in the industrial economy - they had a thing called workplace training.
I don’t see the Trump Regime rushing to raise US minimum wage. According a 2021 Pew Resesrch minimum wage study:
“While 87% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents say they favor increasing the wage to $15 an hour (including 61% who strongly favor it), 72% of Republicans and GOP leaners oppose the idea (including 45% who strongly oppose it).”
And if high tech manufacturing is a goal, why does Mad King Trump want to abolish the $52.7 billion CHIPS and Science Act, which semiconductor manufacturers have relied on for expansion projects across the country?
From CNN:
“Dan Ives, global head of technology research at financial services firm Wedbush Securities, told CNN’s Erin Burnett that the idea (of restoring the iPhone manufacturing) is a “fictional tale.”
US-made iPhones could cost more than three times their current price of around $1,000, he added, because it would be necessary to replicate the highly complex production ecosystem that currently exists in Asia.
“ ‘You build that (supply chain) in the US with a fab in West Virginia and New Jersey. They’ll be $3,500 iPhones,’ “
“And even then, it would cost Apple about $30 billion and three years to move just 10% of their supply chain to the US”
Here in Canada, many are now boycotting US products whenever possible. While I hate to leave the Apple technology ecosystem, my next phone will likely be Samsung not iPhone. I suspect similar sentiments in the EU and other former allies the US has declared economic war on.
You raise some valid points, but it’s important to look at the bigger picture. Raising the minimum wage might be a popular sentiment among Democrats, but there’s a complex debate about how to balance it without causing unintended economic consequences, like job losses or inflation. As for the CHIPS Act, I understand the concern, but Trump’s position on it was more about reshoring manufacturing, not about eliminating support for semiconductor growth altogether. And yes, moving iPhone production to the U.S. would be a massive logistical and financial undertaking—no argument there. However, the key to economic revitalization is finding a sustainable balance between encouraging domestic production, keeping costs manageable, and ensuring fair wages without stifling growth. And regarding Canada, I think it's a bigger question of how U.S. policies are perceived globally—there’s a lot of frustration, but it’s not always as simple as boycotting products. The global market is far more interconnected than people realize.
This era has more opportunity than any era in all my 74 years. And the young are so brainwashed blackpilled they can’t see it.
It is a tragic waste for so many.
I get all my news and thoughts from you now :) you are my brain.
You are entirely right. So what do you see as the first step the American worker should be taking to create real action to rebuild this country?
Maybe the very first thing we can do is refer to employed Americans as employees and stop using the “worker” label?
Bingo
I’m against globalism but I’m for Americanism. And I mean continental America- Canada and Mexico combined with the US would create a powerful trading block well able to negotiate prosperous deals with the EU, China, whoever. If we are going to disentangle with the old world and its old patterns of wars and animosities, let’s unite the new, the AU- the American Union , and from that position of unified strength, dictate proper trade relations.
In the olden days every generation or-there-abouts endured a major war. Many young men were killed off and there was often a "lost generation" - while the men were either dead or shattered by their wartime trauma they were accompanied by a matching generation of spinster women who couldn't find husbands (and were sentenced to a life of poverty in those days).
I often wonder whether in the absence of such a major war my generation (GenX) has experienced the same effect through globalisation. A whole generation of people in the West missed out on getting well-paid jobs in industry and then missed out on home ownership and family formation as a result. And on top of it all our govts have responded by basically en-masse replacement of their own people though immigration. I would sooner have lived & fought my way through WW2 than endure the current malaise. At least there was the prosperous & bright postwar life that followed.
Excellent piece and great comment Connecting the Dots. Thank you
https://open.substack.com/pub/coffeeandcovid/p/the-art-of-the-global-deal-wednesday?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=rk7mz