America, Please Stop Glorifying Manufacturing Jobs

[Geee]

The Federalist:

During every election season, populists in both parties offer some variation of this cliché about American manufacturing: “We don’t make anything anymore.”

“We” still make plenty of things, actually. There are manufacturing jobs available (some of them high paying, specialized, and, no doubt, rewarding). And there may well be new, unexpected, and astonishing things to build in the not-so-distant future.

 

But still, it’s worth pointing out that manufacturing isn’t the same as manufacturing jobs. And it’s really time we stop venerating both.

 

Here’s GOP frontrunner Donald Trump the other day grumbling about having to buy thousands of televisions manufactured in South Korea and then wondering why the United States would defend a nation that sells these reasonably priced products. (I own two Samsung televisions, and I can’t think of a better reason to defend South Korea):

 

“I don’t think anybody makes television sets in the United States anymore. We don’t make anything anymore.”

 

Similarly, Bernie Sanders, Barack Obama, Mike Huckabee, Rick Santorum, Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, and Hillary Clinton have, to one extent or another, lamented the shrinking of the American manufacturing base and threatened our economic well-being by promising to bring those jobs “back.” It’s a bad idea.

 

The Veneration of Widgets

 

For starters, isn’t it a bit archaic to act like assembling a car is more honorable or useful than being a teacher, a lawyer, an entrepreneur, or an engineer; working in finance; or making a living in the service industry? Perhaps there’s something about the tangibility of seeing a widget being put together by a line of workers that offers voters some affirmation that, indeed, things must be going well. But it doesn’t work that way.

[Valin]

As someone who spent their life on the factory floor, I have to wonder, just how many of these people singing the praises of manufacturing jobs have actually done them?