People have a romantic view of the history of American manufacturing, apparently to the point where if politicians go out there and say "We should bring back manufacturing!" everyone goes "Yeah!" without thinking about it. But if you ask people if they actually want to go and work in a factory, well:
80% Of Americans Say The Country Would Be Better Off With More Manufacturing Jobs — But Only 25% Want One Themselves
A 2024 Cato Institute survey found that 80% of Americans believe the country would be better off with more manufacturing jobs. But when asked if they personally would prefer a factory job over their current work, only 25% agreed. About 73% said no, and just 2% of respondents actually work in manufacturing today.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/80-americans-country-better-off-000045129.html
Due to automation, American manufacturing output has
increased over the last 40 years (according to the article above). But while factory jobs are obviously important and necessary, it seems that most people would prefer to work in an air conditioned office than sweat in a factory for 10 hours a day. That's what societies are supposed to evolve towards, in theory -- a reduction in back-breaking hard labor, and an increase in leisure time.
Trump has managed to convince a large portion of the country that a) America is in decline, and it's because b) American manufacturing is in decline, and therefore c) if we want to Make America Great Again we need to d) put Americans back to work in factories.
But it doesn't make sense. Manufacturing in the US is already highly automated -- which increases profits for factory owners because they don't have to pay dozens of people to do the job a machine can do. So we've got a situation where factory owners don't want to get rid of their automation and hire lots of workers instead, and even if they did, Americans generally do not want to go and work in those factories. Yet somehow everyone has gotten the idea that that's what needs to happen.
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