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My offering: tariffs are the wrong tool here, the right tool is increased advocacy for unionization abroad, the development of higher pay structures in other countries, and a general increase in the integration of the world economy. We do this through trade agreements, though I'll be the first to admit we also do other things through trade agreements of which I am less fond.
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2. But this doesn't address automation's impact. This is what drives me nuts about tariffs. They accelerate domestic automation.
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There are also ways to spread the wealth from the Boston/SF markets into other parts of the country, and we can talk about that, too, but one big problem is it often involves things other parts of the country are resistant to, like investing in infrastructure and education to a greater degree and changing your state spending and taxing pattern to one that looks more like California and Massachusetts.
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My state cannot have nice things. Period. I've tried to do infrastructure here and it's fucking painful. The people are just fucking stupid. For every smart person in a govt agency, there are 20 absolutely useless "human loaves" (often patronage hires). Dumb as fuck, concerned only with CYA and getting that pension, or getting re-elected. And the unions are possibly even dumber. They'll fight any and every delivery method that seems more efficient than traditional procurement. They'd rather no work than delivery of multiple projects at once that might mine efficiencies. Any threat to their ability to maximize every dollar for extras and change orders on a single project is viewed as an act of war.
