We used to have a garment industry in the US that employed thousands of workers and payed a living wage. Then Wal Mart came along and attitudes changed from buying a quality product to buying a cheaper product.

This isn't really historically accurate, but that's OK, it's a good point. We are certainly doomed to greater and greater economic disruption as long as we're an economy not built on building things. I think there'd be a lot to be said for a punitive trade war. It'd be terribly painful for a lot of people - maybe even lead to an even bigger global financial crisis as the Chinese etc dumped their dollars in retaliation - but if, at the end of the day, it became cheaper to hire Americans to build things here than to pay foreigners to build them and then import them, I think that'd lead to a more stable society.

Fortunately, Obama has no idea how painful such a trade war would be and he shows signs of starting one. I'm not being sarcastic. Other Presidents have shied away from shutting off the flow of jobs overseas with a trade war because they know that in the short term, we'd literally have another Depression. But I think on the other side we'd have a better society. I don't think Obama is intellectually equipped to make that calculation, but his instincts are for protectionism, so here we go, maybe.