There's no easy answer to this. To me, the most important thing is to look at it from several different angles and understand what the primary objective is. Here's a simple case in point:
1. Do we want full employment here in the U.S.?
2. Do we want a high standard of living here in the U.S.?
3. Do we want to be free citizens here in the U.S.?
I present these two basic questions because it's important to understand that we may not be able to do all three of these at the same time.
Sorry — that’s THREE basic questions. LOL.
But no, the way the game is rigged today we can't have all three.
Buying American means more US tax payers paying into our infrastructure and the military that preserves that freedom you mentioned. It also means fewer unemployed collecting the taxes that could otherwise have paid for all of this.
Buying Chinese means more Chinese tax payers paying for China's infrastructure and military with American money. It means having fewer American tax payers who will have to pay a higher share of supporting our infrastructure and military. It also means that money that could have paid for our infrastructure and military was siphoned off to pay for unemployment benefits instead, paid for by, again, fewer American tax payers.
Considering all of this, saving $.25 on a Chinese made towel doesn't sound like such a bargain after all.
>>There isn’t enough demand here in the U.S. to support many of these industries.<<
This is a catch 22 & a downward spiral. We have had all three of these things. In the 1960s, unemployment was around or at 4%. (source here
http://elcoushistory.tripod.com/economics1960.html
Our standard of living was the highest it’s ever been. We were magnitudes more free than we are now. We were far more secure, individually & as a country.
Far fewer women worked outside the home (a good thing, imho, children or not). Society was better off. The economy was better off.
Every woman (maybe unless she is self-employed) who “does a man’s job” doesn’t only hurt “a man”. She hurts a family- of every race & every social scale. It’s one thing if she is the sole provider, therefore necessary, or takes on leading the family business- but much of this is strictly driven by ego. That’s every bit as bad as the “Wall Street Bankers”. Just because someone *can* do something, doesn’t mean they should.
There are a lot of contributing factors, but foreign trade is an enormous one. We throw our stuff away not only when it “breaks”, but because we want “the latest thing”/ “new & improved” (which it often isn’t). Sometimes, that’s a really stupid thing to do. Wasteful.
We have killed- or just about killed, the “Golden Goose”. SOMEBODY, somewhere has the brains & the talent to figure out how to sort this out. Or is it just laziness?
There’s not much that hard, hard work & dogged determination can’t make happen- even in spite of lacking experience & knowledge. It’s all about will.
It’s not the government’s purpose to provide people with jobs, but they did facilitate our jobs being moved overseas. We help by continuing to buy those products (& now, services; like “tech support”- which sucks) from overseas, rather than shifting our patronage to American made only. The government (local to federal) puts every imaginable obstacle & hassle in the path of American business but greases the skids for third world production. That’s bass-ackwards.
We’re broke & we’re buying CRAP (sometimes literally. Check your grocery labels).
/rant off
just 1 woman’s opinion, humble or not