It builds character

People look at all manufacturing jobs disappearing as part of the reason the middle class is dead. Unfortunately, even if all of these jobs came back, few people want to pay $70 for a made-in-America shirt.

We probably don’t care about these jobs. But the political and cultural care over manufacturing jobs is twofold (1) manufacturing in America ensured we can sustain ourselves in a war with another manufacturing nation (eg china) and (2) it’s a politically savory thing.

Today, we have pretty low unemployment so jobs isn’t as big a concern as other times. BUT jobs are not evenly distributed across the nation. If you visit the rust belt, those cities and towns are losing population as they lose jobs. That makes for an angsty population - staying in your hometown means fighting over the shrinking job pool. No one really wants to be a coal-miner or factory worker, but when that was the last big employer in your shrinking town, you get nostalgic for “good days” of high employment numbers, and a growing population.

Garments aren’t coming back unless American shopping habits change. We’ve started spending a smaller % of income on clothes, while buying more units of clothing per year. That favors clothes made by fast fashion under terrible work conditions - which will never be local. Unless you want to buy a $200 pair of ethically made jeans, you’re not getting it American.

Because it's a job for people who aren't good at math and science can do. It's great that people can be doctors and chemists and software engineers but people who don't have those kinds of smarts to do those things, still need to have jobs. UBI ain't happening, so without jobs that don't take an advanced degree, the people without them don't have jobs. Without a job, how're you going to survive under capitalism?