Quote Originally Posted by Brenngun View Post
If the answer is having more manufacturing returning to North America in order to build the middle class then reduced wages as well as reduced profit margins will have to happen. Otherwise no one will be able to afford what's made here. Just a basic fact of economics.
Not really, the companies made profits before at the wages and benefits levels then and the people could afford to pay the higher prices of the goods made and sold here. Free trade only works on a level playing field where participating countries have similar standards of living. In the global economy there are too many vastly different standards of living for that to work well.

In the end countries with a relatively high standard of living suffer a decrease and countries with a lower standard gain an increase in theirs but the gap between the two still remains large. Profits do increase though.

Bob