US is a terrible country to be poor although good for middle class and rich. Has many great brands and companies but has a huge trading deficit because it imports most goods. Much of its success is due to its size. It's easy for a company trading in to a 350 million market to takeover a company trading to 10-60 million but not vice versa. I'm just making the point its easier for larger companies to take over smaller companies.
I think generally we need to push for more local assembly of goods, even if that pushes up prices, not just for US but everywhere. This already goes on a lot for cars but should be applied to smaller goods too. Included warranties should go much higher too to prevent low quality products which break easily and go to landfill and push for more repair of goods. I.e. a shovel comes with a 15 year guarantee as standard which you can return to the store if broken. If you expand the service sector with a larger amount of repair centres instead of importing new goods that helps too. Push for more standard fittings on goods so they can be upgraded. I.e. a new circuit board for a phone or a new engine in a car rather than replace the whole product.Try to become self-sufficient in most foods so we aren't importing cheap food from Africa which lets face it in many countries of Africa needs to feed their own people. At the moment we are making China the most powerful country in the world, a country with very low values of democracy and high amounts of torture and injustice. For all its faults the US is the best option to remain as the most powerful country on the earth and its influences. Maybe if Europe can get their shit together in the next 20 years they can take that position and promote high values of democracy and justice.
