And we can't all be Silicon Valley engineers. And we certainly all can't be white collar drones jacking off our spreadsheets. An economy based on marketing and services will not be able to survive the loss of its manufacturing and assembly jobs to non-union, overseas industries. Sure, we can't stop all manufacturing from going where wages are cheaper and regulations are non-existent. But some smart trade deals (with enforcement teeth) with other nations can help mitigate the damage, and the drop in prices of manufactured consumer goods can partially make up for job losses.

But its hard to negotiate good trade deals when American marketers lobby fiercely for trade relations that favor foreign manufacturers--because those Americans are selling those goods here. Our business community gave up on manufacturing and concentrated solely on marketing. Its almost as if American business decided that actually making stuff is for chumps, and only middlemen and financial weenies really count. Walmart gets rich off cheap Chinese products, and the selling, servicing and financing of foreign cars has made US-owned auto dealerships very rich. And of course, providing tax breaks for American companies that locate factories overseas is a very self-defeating way of "supporting American business". And what good does it do for American companies to stash their cash overseas and not pay taxes on it? And yes, this has been just as much the fault of the Democrats as it has the Republicans. There ain't much difference between them two when it comes to what really matters. We don't notice because we're too busy arguing about abortions and gay marriage. The stranglehold of American trade policy by big business has been very bi-partisan.

We may increase corporate profits by selling foreign goods here, or having our goods made overseas, but there are enormous hidden costs that are not factored into all the money we allegedly save by not paying Americans a living wage. The economic devastation of losing our middle class and crippling the upward mobility of the working class is not being paid for by those profiting from it. In fact, they just want more tax cuts, promising how the profits will trickle down. However, you have noticed that our corporate profits and stock prices continue to rise, right along with US worker productivity, as do executive compensation and bonuses. Our problems are only partially caused by the workers wanting too much. Maybe the bosses are raiding the cash register when nobody's looking.

Yes, there are economic realities today that may be hard on our national wealth and income, but as long as these realities only cripple the bottom 99%, while the upper 1% gets richer and richer tells me not much will be done to change them.

We can't wage economic war with Asia and Europe, nobody would win, but we are still the world's biggest market, which gives us plenty of clout. Trump (and Bernie) are right about one thing. We CAN negotiate better deals. But these deals have to be hammered out by agencies and men chartered by and tasked to help the American worker, not a handful of big campaign contributors who profit by selling foreign goods and paying low salaries to Americans.

The one single thing that could be done to solve this problem, and many others, is campaign finance reform. Without that, no political ideology or economic philosophy will make any difference.