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

Through the 1980s and into the 1990s, economists spoke mostly about our international trade balance and the strength of the Dollar. The conventional wisdom was that if government would let the value of the Dollar fall, our U.S.-produced goods would be more attractive to foreign buyers and thereby improve our trade balance.

What had worked for much of the twentieth century was, however, no longer working.

By the 1990s, we had entered a period of rampant work displacement. The fact that the holders of foreign currencies had more U.S. purchasing power was of diminishing importance. The goods that they wanted to buy were being produced in a foreign factory.

America’s economic base, its manufacturing sector, continues in steady decline.

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