First, to the bolded...while that statement may be accurate, the everyday American doesn't feel it. I've been worked 12-14 hour days, 5-6 days per week, for the last 15 or so years now, just so I can own a decent home in a decent neighborhood, with a little set aside for savings and retirement. I'm not alone...far from it. I'm better off than many....many many Americans work those kinda hours, and still have to rent, or buy a dilapidated home in a crap neighborhood that'll never really increase in value. Basically, I'm saying that for a LOT of americans, life kinda sucks, and has sucked, for a pretty long time, and it seems to only be getting worse.
Now to the reasons, as far as I can see it...
Boils down to rich people not happy with how rich they are, and wanting to get richer. Allow me to explain...
We used to be a manufacturing giant, and every decent city and town in America had a factory, warehouse, or some sort of production facility, that largly employed a decent percent of the folks that lived there. Those jobs were either union, or were competing with a union for employees, which created upwards pressure on wages. So those jobs allowed a person to buy a modest home, support a family, save for retirement, etc. All while working 50 hours a week or so. But in the 70s, and then much more so in the 80s, it was determined that the unions were hurting US businesses, workers were lazy because the union protected them, the pascal's made that company less competitive, etc. So unions started getting busted. But that wasn't enough. The labor in other parts of the world was way cheaper, so companies started opening manufacturing in places like Mexico, Taiwan, then China. And the US consumer noticed prices falling, cheaper goods....but those lower prices didn't make up for the loss in wage earnings from decent jobs. No, instead, US companies became more profitable. Not just through increased sales, but through increased margins. The rich people at the top pocketed those wage difference savings on manufacturing costs, it was never all "passed onto the consumer". That story has continued till present day.
My opinion on this has changed after some deep thought this past week. I was all for tarrifs, specifically, tarrifing people who were imposing unfair trade practices against us (China), but....
IMO, even if tarrifs worked, and we executed an actual good plan with them, and managed to bring manufacturing back to this country...without a way to create upward pressure on wages, those jobs will be no different than retail jobs. Crap pay for ridiculously long hours, no work life ballance, just a different work setting.
American workers, in all sectors, are losing purchasing power, and I place the blame for this squarely on the 1%. Greed has put us where we are, and tarrifs aren't going to change that.