America’s economic engine is compromised. Forces at work over the last 30 years have sapped our nation’s vitality. How did it happen?

In 1985 we established a business to manufacture food scales for Weight Watchers and its franchisees. The specialized scales were designed and built around a mechanism produced in France.

Our U.S. company imported the mechanisms from France and sourced all the other parts and packaging from local U.S. companies. The scales looked great, worked great and Weight Watchers loved them. Life was good.

However, things were not so good for our French supplier. In 1987 they moved their production to a facility in Northern Ireland. Their costs went down; ours did not.

In fact, since we now had to pay with Irish Dollars, a currency undergoing a volatile appreciation, I was forced to buy Irish Dollar futures in an attempt to hedge the effects of rising costs. It was gambling and there was no good end in sight.

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