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Comment by jqpabc123 | Hacker News Reader

Yes --- the obvious problem is that virtually everyone in the USA is a consumer of foreign products --- including domestic manufacturers and workers.

In other words, virtually everyone will pay more. The only real winner is government which gets a new income stream.

Simple minded solutions for simple minded folks.

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yes, baby boomers lived well, but that was a different world and a different economy. and that analogy fits really well because i think that's where trumps appeal lies, "let's get back to how the boomer generation lived (Make America Great Again)" but the reality of the present is that the nation and the world have moved on from there. to go back would require a feat of economics that i'm not sure is survivable.

To go back would require a destruction of the rest of the world's manufacturing capability, like what happened during WWII.

Boomers refuse to admit how much the destruction caused by WWII made their lives better.

i dont believe it’s a deliberate stance. I think there’s a human tendency to do the best you can in the moment that you have, and then reflect on that with some fondness.

The baby boomers lived well, before so many industries and jobs were offshored.

And before labor unions were suppressed ... and before executives started consuming almost all the increases in productivity ... and before the education system produced a mindless generation that can't think for themselves.

In other words, the Boomers lived well until the Boomers screwed it all up. Now they're whining about the mess they made for the rest of us to deal with.

Just whining wouldn't be much of a problem.

The problem is they think they have found a simple minded shortcut back to the good ole days.

The reality is you can never go back and trying what looks like a shortcut will only make things even worse.

good point on executive salaries.

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