Our trade deficit has remained at approximately half a trillion dollars since Obama vowed to reduce the deficit in 2010. Since then imports have risen slightly less than 10%. Where we fare even worse is outsourcing. The US lost 2.3 million jobs last year alone. So now enter Trump. He has vowed to scrap bad trade deals and start new. I feel a good place for him to start is NAFTA. Mexico has taken nearly 1 million jobs since its inception. The next target on the list has to be China who has taken 3 million jobs since the start of the 2000's. This will not be an easy task for Trump despite his business savvy. As pointed out in the article things have not gone smoothly for most who try to reduce our trade deficit. IMO we have to address our spending before we can address trade. Our way of life is our Achilles heal. Is Trump the one to finally get our spending under control and get tough on trade? What say you.
Obama has seen an increase of about 5 million jobs over his 8 years http://www.bls.gov/web/empsit/cps_charts.pdf Say goodbye to cheap products at WalMart and Target et al. The standard of living depends on both income and the cost of living. Dramatic increases in the price of imported good, or increases due to forced onshoring will have a significant effect on the economy and could be disastrous. Trade deals can be renegotiated but if you want to start looking to socialist principles and protectionism as the answer, good luck.
The majority of jobs added under Obama are retail, hospitality and temporary jobs. As to your second point. The reason we demand cheap goods has more to do with the record numbers of welfare and low income earners in our country than our desire to spend less. Returning jobs to America leads to a stronger economy and better earning jobs for our citizens.
In my company the manufacturing jobs never left America. Rather microprocessors and stepper motors have replaced the simple minded work working class people used to do and they do a much better job.
There will always be winners and losers in a free market. The efficient thing to do is produce whatever goods we have a comparative advantage with, and import the rest. Unfortunately this is a rather difficult sell to the losers. The real issue, of course, is that it's illegal to compete in the West. It is illegal to accept a competitive wage. They wouldn't be going to China if the poor weren't legislated into unemployment.
His "credentials" certainly suggest he's pretty good at that business and economics sh*t, 10 billion dollars in his pocket, 12 hotels, 17 golf courses, toys like these etc etc-
