We will have to figure out how to pay for all the goodness of a vision like the one described above, where, as we continue to grow as a nation, no one is left behind. For all the talk, and to and fro and high-minded thinking, there are really only two solutions to affording anything:
- Reduce its cost or
- Find more money.
The first is probably not going to happen very easily, and certainly won’t happen across the board, and the second can only be achieved by growing the economy (producing and selling more stuff), or raising taxes. I am opposed to recklessly raising taxes, which is what usually happens, so let’s focus on producing and selling more stuff, because I think that’s the only successful path forward.
When I spoke earlier of the importance of foreign policy, and its complexity, this is where we see it starts to come into play.
I believe it’s time to bring back to America the economics we have relinquished to Asia, in particular, China, over the last forty years. We need to bring back to America the manufacturing jobs, both light and heavy industrial, that we exported to China. We need to get back to more product labels that say “Made in America”.
This serves two purposes:
- It goes a long way to growing our economy; and
- It begins to deal with the existential threats China poses.