The US will not be in the dominant position where it can have such incredibly advantageous trade relationships that it can increase standard of living using only services forever.

It also causes a huge vulnerability.

Free trade has only worked for 240 years, let me know when managed trade works once.

it worked because the cards were heavily stacked toward the US and other first world countries.

as the developing world improves their standard of living, so does the same decrease for people in the developed world, because these developing nations are no longer dependent on the developed one's.

It was always just a question of time with globalization in effect.

personally, i think that this is a good thing though. we in the developed world have been living unsustainable lives for generations, living off of the developing nations.

though thats most definitely not the only reason why everything has been getting harder for the working population. automation, higher efficiency, extreme concentration of wealth and more do their part in the current situation as well.

Our standard of living continues to increase along with the developing world, and free trade deserves much of the credit.

And eventually many countries in the developing world will have a higher power and higher standard of living than us, and our service industries will not have much of a comparative advantage or really much added value, and power relations will change which will completely upend the favourability of trade relations.

Hasn't worked for most third world countries, actually. Most that succeeded was with massive state involvement including trade management.

Somehow, China has managed to create a huge expansion of their middle class with outsourced manufacturing.

>According to a study by consulting firm McKinsey & Company, 76 percent of China’s urban population will be considered middle class by 2022. In 2000, just 4 percent of the urban population was considered middle class.

https://www.businessinsider.com/chinas-middle-class-is-explo...

Meanwhile, in America:

>Fewer millennials in 2019 are middle class compared to baby boomers when they were in their 20s

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/why-the-middle-class-is-sh...

Meh. Middle class Chinese means something very different from middle class American. There’s something true here, but the exact comparison you’re making isn’t quite it.

Also, valuearb is kind of right. Except that the right solution is more efficient onshore manufacturing, not offshoring.

>Middle class Chinese means something very different from middle class American

Of course it does. They do have that extra trillion people to bring the average down.

However, moving the manufacturing jobs from here to there has certainly raised their average standard of living while reducing our own.

No it’s raised both our standards of living. Google the law of comparative advantage.

No, it's raised profit margins for manufacturers who no longer have to pay a living wage, healthcare, benefits, and obey stricter environmental and worker safety regulations.

The unemployed here are not better off.

What unemployed? Unemployment was at record low levels before the pandemic.

Ever been to the rust belt? There is plenty of unemployment in our nation's former manufacturing region.

In addition, a Walmart cashier, Starbucks barista or Uber driver does not have the same standard of living that a UAW member once did.

People are, on average, worse off than the preceding generations, all in the name of higher profit margins for the few.

>Across Western Europe and North America, the middle class is shrinking, according to a new report by the OECD. With each new generation, a smaller share of the population find themselves earning middle incomes.

When the Baby Boomers, who were born between 1943 and 1964, were in their twenties, some 68% were in middle-income households. Only 60% of Millennials, who were born between 1983 and 2002, could say the same at a similar time in their lives.

https://qz.com/1592826/the-middle-class-is-shrinking-generat...

Unemployment statistics and median incomes prove your anecdotes and cherry picked statistics wrong.