As Donald Trump continues to surge in the polls, a staple of Trump’s campaign rhetoric remains his emphasis on bringing manufacturing jobs back to the United States and confronting foreign competitors like China and Mexico over their unfair trading practices.
Investment in new U.S. factory plant and equipment just hit the highest level since 1958. After 100 years of economic dominance due to cheap and abundant oil, U.S. politicians turned against domestic oil production in the 1970s and the Middle East oil production took off. For the next 40 years, the budget deficit and income inequality soared as high-paying manufacturing jobs went offshore. But with fracking re-establishing America as the planet’s largest energy producer, U.S. manufacturing is back.
