Editor’s Note: Far from being a new theme, I have been researching and writing about these issues for over a decade on this site.

“Were the Americans, either by combination or by another sort of violence, to stop the importation of European manufactures, and, by thus giving a monopoly to such of their own countrymen as could manufacture the like goods, divert any considerable part of their capital into this employment, they will instead retard instead of accelerating the further increase in the value of their annual produce, and would obstruct instead of promoting the progress of their country toward wealth and greatness.”

– Adam Smith, 1776

Since 1994, Dixie has lost nearly 2 million NET manufacturing jobs thanks to the WTO and free-trade agreements like NAFTA. Manufacturing employment has dropped in absolute numbers in every Southern state. This has led to thousands of blighted, abandoned factories left behind in communities all across the South. The above image is Ensley Steel Works in Metro Birmingham.

Use this convenient tool to search for the jobs that free-trade has destroyed in your area. You will be surprised to learn how many jobs the US Department of Labor has certified as being lost due to free-trade under the Trade Assistance Adjustment Program.

In many of these states, the job losses due to free-trade are even more staggering than they appear to be here. These are only the manufacturing jobs, but many jobs in agriculture (aquaculture) and services (accounting) have been sent overseas as well. Blompf is right that he is being killed in trade by China, Japan and Mexico. We haven’t run a trade surplus with these countries in 20 years.

We’ve demolished our manufacturing base, exported it to East Asia and replaced it with low-wage gig economy jobs that don’t generate as much taxable wealth. As for the foreign manufacturing plants which are held up as proof of the magic of free-trade, Alabama paid ThyssenKrupp over $1 billion dollars for a steel mill, $158 million dollars for Airbus, $253 million dollars for Mercedes-Benz, and $234 million dollars for Hyundai. Georgia got a KIA plant for $400 million dollars. We subsidize foreigners with billions of dollars in incentive packages to build plants here to take over our own market.

Investing in our own future is decried as “socialism” and “protectionism” by Boomers who seriously believe in lolbertarian economics. According to free-market theorists like Adam Smith and Jean-Baptiste Say, the United States was destined to be an agricultural country “like Poland,” but unlike China and the rest of East Asia we are still following their advice two centuries later. In hindsight, the South was “like Poland” in the sense that it was unable to defend itself and lost its independence.

I happen to agree with Andrew Yang that is too late to “bring back the jobs” and take the Boomers back to the 1950s. The last 70 years have still been a self-inflicted disaster. Even in East Asia, those industrial jobs will eventually be abolished by automation. The same is true of lolbertarian economics in general because the application of deep learning AI to the global economy will rapidly expose the fact that scientific and technological progress is generating the wealth, not human labor.

When it becomes clear that robotic slaves are creating and generating wealth, displacing human beings from the workforce and the bags are stacking up in Jeff Bezos’s bank account, what happens then? Why is Bezos entitled to all the wealth created by his robotic slaves? Isn’t he becoming rich like the Waltons by annihilating retail trade all over the country?

Alabama

“Alabama lost 102,100 manufacturing jobs (or 28.6 percent) during the NAFTA-WTO period (1994-2015), according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.* This figure is for total manufacturing employment, so it takes into account both jobs created by exports and jobs displaced by imports, among other causes of net job change. The percentage of all private sector jobs that are manufacturing jobs in Alabama declined from 26 percent to 16.7 percent during the NAFTA-WTO period.”

North Carolina

“North Carolina lost 359,794 manufacturing jobs (or 44.2 percent) during the NAFTA-WTO period (1994-2015), according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.* This figure is for total manufacturing employment, so it takes into account both jobs created by exports and jobs displaced by imports, among other causes of net job change. The percentage of all private sector jobs that are manufacturing jobs in North Carolina declined from 29.6 percent to 13.2 percent during the NAFTA-WTO period.”

South Carolina

“South Carolina lost 111,503 manufacturing jobs (or 32.4 percent) during the NAFTA-WTO period (1994-2015), according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.* This figure is for total manufacturing employment, so it takes into account both jobs created by exports and jobs displaced by imports, among other causes of net job change. The percentage of all private sector jobs that are manufacturing jobs in South Carolina declined from 27.2 percent to 14.7 percent during the NAFTA-WTO period.”

Georgia

“Georgia lost 150,487 manufacturing jobs (or 29 percent) during the NAFTA-WTO period (1994-2015), according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.* This figure is for total manufacturing employment, so it takes into account both jobs created by exports and jobs displaced by imports, among other causes of net job change. The percentage of all private sector jobs that are manufacturing jobs in Georgia declined from 20 percent to 10.6 percent during the NAFTA-WTO period.”

Florida

“Florida lost 109,542 manufacturing jobs (or 24.7 percent) during the NAFTA-WTO period (1994-2015), according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.* This figure is for total manufacturing employment, so it takes into account both jobs created by exports and jobs displaced by imports, among other causes of net job change. The percentage of all private sector jobs that are manufacturing jobs in Florida declined from 9.2 percent to 4.9 percent during the NAFTA-WTO period.”

Virginia

“Virginia lost 140,969 manufacturing jobs (or 37.8 percent) during the NAFTA-WTO period (1994-2015), according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.* This figure is for total manufacturing employment, so it takes into account both jobs created by exports and jobs displaced by imports, among other causes of net job change. The percentage of all private sector jobs that are manufacturing jobs in Virginia declined from 16 percent to 7.8 percent during the NAFTA-WTO period.”

Maryland

“Maryland lost 72,825 manufacturing jobs (or 41.3 percent) during the NAFTA-WTO period (1994-2015), according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.* This figure is for total manufacturing employment, so it takes into account both jobs created by exports and jobs displaced by imports, among other causes of net job change. The percentage of all private sector jobs that are manufacturing jobs in Maryland declined from 10.4 percent to 5 percent during the NAFTA-WTO period.”

West Virginia

“West Virginia lost 30,908 manufacturing jobs (or 39.3 percent) during the NAFTA-WTO period (1994-2015), according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.* This figure is for total manufacturing employment, so it takes into account both jobs created by exports and jobs displaced by imports, among other causes of net job change. The percentage of all private sector jobs that are manufacturing jobs in West Virginia declined from 15.4 percent to 8.4 percent during the NAFTA-WTO period.”

Tennessee

“Tennessee lost 182,817 manufacturing jobs (or 35.8 percent) during the NAFTA-WTO period (1994-2015), according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.* This figure is for total manufacturing employment, so it takes into account both jobs created by exports and jobs displaced by imports, among other causes of net job change. The percentage of all private sector jobs that are manufacturing jobs in Tennessee declined from 26 percent to 13.7 percent during the NAFTA-WTO period.”

Kentucky

“Kentucky lost 44,654 manufacturing jobs (or 15.8 percent) during the NAFTA-WTO period (1994-2015), according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.* This figure is for total manufacturing employment, so it takes into account both jobs created by exports and jobs displaced by imports, among other causes of net job change. The percentage of all private sector jobs that are manufacturing jobs in Kentucky declined from 22.3 percent to 15.5 percent during the NAFTA-WTO period.”

Mississippi

“Mississippi lost 103,113 manufacturing jobs (or 42.3 percent) during the NAFTA-WTO period (1994-2015), according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.* This figure is for total manufacturing employment, so it takes into account both jobs created by exports and jobs displaced by imports, among other causes of net job change. The percentage of all private sector jobs that are manufacturing jobs in Mississippi declined from 30 percent to 16 percent during the NAFTA-WTO period.”

Missouri

“Missouri lost 105,798 manufacturing jobs (or 29.1 percent) during the NAFTA-WTO period (1994-2015), according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.* This figure is for total manufacturing employment, so it takes into account both jobs created by exports and jobs displaced by imports, among other causes of net job change. The percentage of all private sector jobs that are manufacturing jobs in Missouri declined from 18.2 percent to 11.3 percent during the NAFTA-WTO period.”

Oklahoma

“Oklahoma lost 18,346 manufacturing jobs (or 11.5 percent) during the NAFTA-WTO period (1994-2015), according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.* This figure is for total manufacturing employment, so it takes into account both jobs created by exports and jobs displaced by imports, among other causes of net job change. The percentage of all private sector jobs that are manufacturing jobs in Oklahoma declined from 16.4 percent to 11 percent during the NAFTA-WTO period.”

Arkansas

“Arkansas lost 81,116 manufacturing jobs (or 34.8 percent) during the NAFTA-WTO period (1994-2014), according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.* This figure is for total manufacturing employment, so it takes into account both jobs created by exports and jobs displaced by imports, among other causes of net job change. The percentage of all private sector jobs that are manufacturing jobs in Arkansas declined from 28.3 percent to 16 percent during the NAFTA-WTO period.”

Louisiana

“Louisiana lost 31,315 manufacturing jobs (or 17.5 percent) during the NAFTA-WTO period (1994-2015), according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.* This figure is for total manufacturing employment, so it takes into account both jobs created by exports and jobs displaced by imports, among other causes of net job change. The percentage of all private sector jobs that are manufacturing jobs in Louisiana declined from 13.6 percent to 9 percent during the NAFTA-WTO period.”

Texas

“Texas lost 71,564 manufacturing jobs (or 7.4 percent) during the NAFTA-WTO period (1994-2015), according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.* This figure is for total manufacturing employment, so it takes into account both jobs created by exports and jobs displaced by imports, among other causes of net job change. The percentage of all private sector jobs that are manufacturing jobs in Texas declined from 15.8 percent to 9.2 percent during the NAFTA-WTO period.”