It would also involve support for science research and reasonable immigration, plus widespread acceptance for moderately higher consumer prices. People should have a real conversation about what it means to make clothing in the US instead of in Bangladesh (just for example). While the "zero sum game" is generally considered to be a sign of ignorance when discussing economics, in the short term the number of available workers is a zero sum game, and unemployment is relatively low right now.
In a way it de-NIMBYizes Americans, forcing them to face the environmental costs of their consumer behaviours. The re-engineering part is the opportunity I see in all this. How do you make manufacturing cleaner and more worker-friendly (or even better: don’t even require human labour).
