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Because when you manufacture something, you are creating goods for others...similar to the farmer.

You have created goods that did not exist before.

Everyone in the chain, from the raw material, the trucker who brings the material to the plant, the workers....all create wealth and are rewarded with payment for services.

Those who purchase the goods are furnished wuith something that makes their life better.

If all a nation does is ship raw material out of the country and accept payment for that, that nation will eventually decline. We are very close to seeing a sevre decline in the US in parte due to our loss of manufacturing.

Certainly, we need to recognize the candidates who will support a manufacturing renaissance, through advocacy of tax cuts and regulatory reform, higher tariffs, and even bans on imports from enemy nations.

Also, securing reliable access to cheap and abundant energy is key to any economy. All economic activity requires energy consumption, even more so with Alien Intelligence and robots. Energy cost is the root cost of everything, and ultimately determines the quality of life. The USA has 4% of the world's population but consumes 25% of the world's available energy. By no small coincidence, the USA also produces exactly the same percentage of world total GDP, and enjoys the highest standard of living.

The only thing communism ever produces is impoverished people with no option but to work for starvation wages. There's a strong moral argument against funding communist regimes by exploiting their impoverished workers. It only prolongs their suffering. And we're talking about 2 billion people here.

With the price of 3D printers falling and the technology improvements in 3D printer materials, home manufacturing is something that is becoming more feasible.

Couple that with the trend among people to has a “side hustle” to earn extra income, this country could spark a revolution in “home manufacturing” if given the right government incentives or at least if government doesn’t get in the way.

I am reminded of one east coast state that because of their fear over 3D printed firearms wanted both background checks, and waiting periods on the purchase of 3D printers.

Adam Smith wrote about it a couple of centuries ago in “Wealth of Nations”. Wealth is CREATED only when the value of a product is worth more than the cost of the labor and materials to produce it. You can even rule the materials out of this formula since their value is created the same way. Whether it’s mining gold, growing corn, or building smart phones, the man-made value called ‘wealth’, is only created by men. It’s the value of ‘stuff’.

Some argue that land represents wealth. That may be true, but no one is creating any more of it. They’re just dividing what’s already there. It’s value can only be increased with more labor, dividing, improving, or mining in it.

So, if you want to increase the wealth of your nation, you better make sure that labor is conducted by its citizens.