That's sounding pretty bitter.
Its cheaper to refine elsewhere. All the heavy industries that support refining are elsewhere. Some other country doesn't care if a bunch of poor workers die hideous deaths, and their wretched little towns are decimated by pollution. Some other contry does not care if there is a brownfield a few square kilometers in size that will never be cleaned up. Some other workers will take dimes on the dollar to what the US worker will take, and be happy for it. Thus, the industry goes elsewhere.
That may be true, but in a world that becomes increasingly hostile, there is a national security issue as well, besides the intrinsic wealth of refining here at home.
At least in the US we have the framework in place to protect workers much more than other nations. Which is the greater evil? Exploiting others you know will work unsafely, but for which you are not responsible or building your own refineries and setting ever higher standards in worker safety and control?
That's the real issue. In China we see such exploitation and we also see the results: terrible quality control and unsound, often unsafe, goods.
The left and the right need to come together and realize that "curbing pollution" does not mean just playing a global shell game - but it means working with industries to encourage at-home factories that meet new levels of safety and pollution control.
The minimum wage needs a special addition to permit first time workers, with under two years job experience, to work for any wage down to $2.00 an hour. This would permit business to hire American citizens again. Billions of dollars would return to America along with the factories that keep our true wealth, in the form of manufacturing capacity, at home.
Sure it would be exploited. Sure, their would be quasi-sweat shops here in the states again. But these things and conditions ALREADY exist in the US, merely the victims have no rights, are illegals and their pay never feeds the government coffers. Again, compromise is the secret to economic recovery and providing economic justice for all.