Man-ufacturing

 One of the regrettable tics from well-meaning liberals when talking about Trump's tariffs goes something like this: "The decline of American manufacturing is genuinely awful and we should do more to reverse that buy Trump's tariffs are just too chaotic and extreme a way to do that." Here's an example from the Times editorial board:

We want to emphasize that Mr. Trump has a point about the pain caused by free trade. The decades in which the United States threw open its doors to imports from other countries left many Americans without jobs and decimated the nation’s industrial heartland. Washington’s naïveté about China’s rise, accomplished partly through its own trade barriers and theft of intellectual property, is particularly regrettable.

A revival of American manufacturing is a worthy goal. It would not heal past wounds, but it could provide a basis for future generations of Americans to build lives and to rebuild communities that are more prosperous and more secure.

That is the tragedy of Mr. Trump’s trade war. Instead of addressing the ills he has diagnosed, he has embarked on a reckless campaign that threatens to discard the benefits of trade without delivering a meaningful economic revival.

Bullshit.

Here's the thing. America is responsible for roughly 16% of global manufacturing, which is, indeed, half of China's share. It is also the second highest level in the world, including Germany. China also has roughly three times the population of the US, so producing twice as much manufactured goods is actually not at all surprising. The US, which makes up 4% of the global population, makes us over 25% of global GDP.

How are we losing?

The average wage in manufacturing jobs in the US is around $51,000 a year. The average wage for a school teacher is $71,000. A police officer?  $62,000 a year. Even sales personnel earn around $54,000. 

Manufacturing jobs will not "make America great again." 

If you want to help the Rust Belt towns who lost those manufacturing jobs, then do it. Using tariffs to bring back jobs that pay...OK, isn't going to reverse anything. What's more, the tariffs are going to jack up prices, so those people who are earning $50G in their shiny new manufacturing job aren't going to be able to afford anything.

You want a good paying job for someone without a college degree? Construction pays $52,000. Electricians, $61,000. 

Build homes, not factories.