That's the thing. "The Govt" didn't let it happen. U.S. Companies SOLD OUT OUR JOBS AND FACTORIES all under the guise of shareholder value and maximizing this or that. What would you have govt do, prevent companies from doing business outside the U.S.? This isn't on politicians, this is on the companies that sent away the jobs and closed the factories. Hell, some of them built factories here and then shipped them.

China did exactly what U.S. Companies wanted them to do. They were exactly the trade partner that U.S. companies wanted. Reagan and his trade Secretary Reegan had a plan to break U.S. Unions. And that plan was to ship manufacturing overseas. So, I suppose, you could blame U.S. politicians, just not the ones you really want to. I guess you could "blame" Unions, but this isn't really their fault, either.

Who in "The Govt" forced John Deere to get castings and bearings from China?