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For many people, Pittsburgh is defined by the confluence of the Alleghany and Monongahela Rivers, out of which is formed the Ohio River. Three Rivers. But, Pittsburgh was transformed from a disease-infested frontier town into a great city by a different kind of confluence: the combination of coal from West Virginia and iron from Minnesota and the upper peninsula of Michigan. Out of these two natural resources was formed steel. From the mid 19th Century to the mid 20th Century, not only did Pittsburgh become the Steel City, but the surrounding region became the industrial heartland of our nation. During this period, we surpassed Europe in terms of economic development, and also in terms of power and influence in the world.
Eventually, the coal and the iron ore gave out or were made uneconomic by regulation. By the 1970s, the movie “Deer Hunter” spotlighted the tensions of that time in a small industrial town in Pennsylvania. And, by the 1980s, Billy Joel, in his song “Allentown,” lamented the end of an era.
Come the 1990s, Ross Perot, a billionaire businessman who ran as an independent candidate for President, offered an explanation for the challenges faced by industry in America: the North American Free Trade Agreement. If the Congress ratified NAFTA, he said, there would be a big sucking sound, as industrial jobs would flow to Mexico. NAFTA was ratified, but there was no big sucking sound. Instead, the economy continued a long period of expansion. While the economy changed, and this change hurt many workers and businesses, the changes opened up new and better opportunities. While some people attempted to cling onto the old economy, most people took advantage of the new opportunities, and profited.
This year, another billionaire businessman is running for president, this time, as a candidate of one of the two major parties. And, he repeats the argument of Perot regarding international trade. Free trade, Donald Trump says, is destroying manufacturing in this country. He points to China and Japan, as well as to Mexico, apparently unaware that we don’t have free trade agreements with China or Japan, and that we have a surplus in manufactured goods within NAFTA.
But, these are not the 1990s. There is no bustling economy. People who lose their jobs and young people looking for their first job are having a very difficult time finding full-time work with benefits. Many of those who have jobs have not seen a pay increase in years. People are dropping out of the labor force, accepting part-time work supplemented by food stamps and other welfare benefits, postponing family formation, and committing suicide. These are deeply troubling times. Many people out there have never experienced a vibrant economy. If this is what capitalism is, many of them say, they would prefer socialism.
The fundamentals argue for a revival not only of the economy, but specifically of manufacturing. Advances in the production of energy, such as fracking, make oil and natural gas abundant and cheap. Analogous advances in iron mining means that iron fields once thought to be nearing exhaustion have been given new life. But, just as the potential of our people has been restrained by high taxes and excessive regulations, so too has the production of the enormous natural resources of our country.
