I hold a doctorate in statistics from one of the top three departments in the world. My thesis was written under the supervision of a former chair of the University of Chicago department of statistics. I have hobnobbed with nobel laureates and assorted historical persons, some who are knighted MBE.
The reason I say all this is not to boast but to get you to believe that I have done my homework thoroughly to understand the solution to the topic of this thread is written into H.R. 25, the FairTax legislation (http://www.fairtax.org).
If you are really truly interested in the topic of this thread, then:
1. Study the link I gave above, especially the FAQ.
2. Study the history of taxation in American beginning with the Founder’s rationale and basis for taxation.
3. Study the rise of the Income tax beginning in the Civil War, its development and culmination in the 16th Amendment including key judicial rulings before 1913.
4. Study the five major tax reforms since 1913 and why they have each failed.
5. Understand as completely as possible the existence of federal embedded taxes in the prices of retail products and services.
6. Study the historical flaw of the regressive excise taxes used to fund America before 1913. Understand how this led to class warfare and Marxist populism.
7. Understand how the ‘Rebate’ of H.R. 25 corrects the flaw in item 6 above and why it was not possible to implement in 1913 or thereafter until only recently.
If you study and begin to understand the items above, you will be on your way to answering how the American manufacturing base can experience a great revival by an immediate 20+% drop in the price of American goods and services exported abroad, making it hugely competitive on a global scale. All of this is possible and practically done through real true tax reform in H.R. 25.
Do you know how to frame a roof? Just kidding but not by much....I support the Fair Tax and can see a real chance for economic recovery if something like this ever passed.
I fear it won't because we have a couple of generations of managers who have spent their entire careers either totally ignoring or avoiding government tax policies by going as far off shore as possible or on the other hand fulfilling the reporting requirements imposed on them in triplicate.
Couple this with a bias against manual labor in this country and we find that eliminating the white collar bureaucrats in private and public sectors probably will put more people out of work than continuing to croak manufacturing.