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I don't know.

Is it possible to do better than we are? Probably. How much better? I don't know.

We could repudiate NAFTA and close off trade with China. This could bring back local manufacturing, and the possibility of a working-class job being a reasonable life. This could also lead to us falling behind the rest of the world, as they create economies of scale that we can't match. Is that better or worse than the current state of affairs? I don't know.

I think if we don't know the answer, I'd rather try than assume it can't be done.

I'm not sure how far policy makers expect to get when the corner stone of public policy everywhere seems (to me at least) to hinge on forcing individuals to try in some particular way that they may not be willing to allocate resources (i.e time, money, labor, knowledge, skills, etc) for weak incentives in return.

It’s certainly possible to offer as much as possible. The question is how much is possible?