re: Deindustrialization - Have We Become a Poor Country?

I don't understand your point, SF. There are menial and repetitive aspects of manufacturing wherein humans must do the work; albeit AI/Robotics of the near future will change that dynamic.

I took a photo trip into the Delta back when the cotton was being harvested and talked to a farmer. His major problem was that he could not find/keep workers. He needed 5 workers to run the cotton harvest machinery/process. He had the option to buy a $750,000 machine that would shrink the workforce, but a drought could then put him in the street. So he planted soybeans instead of cotton.

The larger problem is what happens re the workers/nonworkers who need the basics of life, but as an extension of the US System of personal freedom (*Welfare* back when) chose not work and claim Systematic subsistence.

What % of those new immigrants will be jumping into the worker market or claiming the 'Welfare' option? That is the real issue, and the 'let them eat cake' scenario won't cut it in todays MSM/Social Media world.