Molson Hart

Yes, not perfect though I think proves the claim we *do* make stuff here. Now, I'd agree we should make more stuff here but I think we all agree on that!

I mean obviously we make stuff here. How could I argue the opposite? But fuck, for real manufacturing gdp to be flat for 20 years in the worlds greatest capitalist country? Something is wrong. And of course look at the employment! Some people can only work those jobs.

Some people don’t agree on that. Free market globalists* like @davidgshort for example. *i have no idea what this word means. It just seemed appropriate

I don’t think we shouldn’t make more stuff. I think government intervention to do so is more likely to cause more problems than solve them

Possible, but cars have been okay no?

Actually, no. US car manufacturers, other than Tesla, which sells a tiny tiny fraction of all cars, have been in retreat for 40 years due to Asian competition.

What I mean is that protectionism hasn’t been harmful in that industry. I think that people are pretty satisfied with the employment it provides. Unless you’re arguing that we would employ more people if we had less car manufacturing protectionism?

I'm not exactly sure what you're arguing. Up to the 1950s the US produced 80% of all cars in the world. We now produce <15%. If you think government intervention has been good for the US car industry, is the counterfactual that we went from 80% to 0%? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automotive_industry#World_motor_vehicle_production …