Carrier stays in US

[mihoda]

Here we are at T -45 days or so and the right is already cheering the perversion of those free markets they claim to love.

I'm more center than right, but here's my take on free markets, tariffs, etc.

In school they teach you that everyone's better off if goods and services are produced by the countries best suited to do so.

Correct. And I used to teach that very course at a college level.

So, traditional manufacturing should shift to countries with lower wages, and the U.S. should educate its populace for higher-tech jobs. That way everyone maximizes their earnings, and prices are at their lowest.

Mostly correct. There are a lot of details glossed over here. But it's reasonable enough to ignore.

The problem is that you can't educate everyone in America for higher-tech jobs. Performance at those jobs isn't just a function of education, it also requires some amount of innate intelligence. There are people with adequate intelligence for manufacturing jobs, but not for higher-tech jobs. We're getting to be a white collar/hamburger flipper economy without a great middle ground.

The mobility of different types of labor is always a bit of guesswork, but for the sake of argument, we can assume this is correct too.

If we use tariffs and other measures to keep manufacturing jobs in the U.S., we keep that middle ground. The cost is that we're all paying more for those manufactured products. In effect you end up with:

- wealth redistribution, which liberals like
- but done without outright handouts to individuals, so it's palatable to conservatives

Trump is trying to achieve center/liberal 
goals in a way that's acceptable to conservatives. 

Those of you old enough to recall Clinton know that he pandered to the left, but in reality was more center, and sometimes right of center (as with free trade).

Try to stop hating and just wait and see what he does.

Here's where you're off the rails. Trade theory worked out the 'shoulds' of this situation a long time ago.  (1) Free trade happens (2) The domestic winners pay off the domestic losers: redistribution (3) everyone is better off than when they started.

The fly in the ointment is that the GOP has never been in favor of redistribution or social safety nets (another form of redistribution for displaced workers).  But instead of arguing that the GOP should suck it the fuck up and learn some econ, you are arguing that we should all be worse off instead.