re: Automation: What do we do with the truly UNSKILLED that are no longer needed?

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Even with the knowledge that this is merely lip service by Trump it is something labor has been saying for years and the GOP has always screamed like a mashed kitty because it was unfair....and the Democrats got on board to attract voters.

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The unions were right for the wrong reasons and so is Trump.

The unions wanted production here so that their workers would keep paying dues that the unions use to influence elections.

However, those union labor prices were expensive, causing prices to be higher. By shipping production overseas, people were out of those high-priced union jobs, but prices for those goods were lower.

By placing restraints on the market to force production here, what will determine whether or not it is successful is whether the amount of jobs added raises the average income enough to outstrip the rise in prices associated with paying those higher wages.

If I were King, I would find a middle-ground between the America-First crowd and the Free Market crowd. I would draft a model regulatory code with 3 tiers. These tiers would consist of levels like wages, environmental protections, emissions standards, workplace safety rules, purity and inspection standards, food safety, labeling, and respect for copyrights. These would set the regulatory bottom, and nations could choose to add regulations in excess of a tier.

Trade between nations of the same tier would be completely free from tariffs and unrestricted. Trade between nations of different tiers would involve a tariff on goods exported from the lower tiered country to the higher tiered one.

That way, a country with no worker protections or safety regulations wouldn't be able to flood our markets with cheap goods, and there would be an incentive for 3rd world nations to build a middle class rather than just rely on slave labor.