心灵拷问：为什么制造业回归美国如此困难？

Steven Haddock
One of the big reasons that I’ve just realized recently is that because Americans no longer have a casual attitude towards things like worker mortality and serious environmental degradation.

我最近才深刻意识到的一个主要原因在于，美国人不再对工人死亡率和严重的环境退化持随意态度了。

For example, back around 1900, the number of people who died in mining every day is roughly equal to the number of people in mining in 2025 who die per year. In C, mining fatalities are roughly at the U.S. 1900 level. In a lot of places where manufacturing is still done, worker fatalities are massive.

例如，在1900年左右，每天死于采矿的人数大致相当于2025年全年死于采矿的人数。在C，矿难死亡人数大致处于美国1900年的水平。在许多仍在进行制造业的地方，工人死亡率非常高。


Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, New York City, 1911. 150 fatalities. Led to new standards in building egress standards that on 9/11/2001 saved thousands of lives. There are still large industrial accidents, but nothing of this scale. The Deepwater Horizon disaster, although horrific, only killed 11 people.

1911年纽约市三角内衣工厂火灾，150人死亡。这场火灾催生了新的建筑出口标准，这些标准在2001年9月11日挽救了数千人的生命。如今虽然仍有重大工业事故，但已无如此规模的惨剧。深水地平线灾难虽然可怕，也只造成了11人死亡。


Rana Plaza factory collapse, Bangladesh, 2013. Structurally deficient building collapsed after workers were ordered to return to it after they saw parts of the structure failing. Over 1,100 dead.

2013年孟加拉国拉纳广场工厂倒塌。这座建筑结构存在缺陷，工人们看到部分结构出现问题后，却被勒令返回楼内工作，最终导致大楼倒塌。超过1100人死亡。

Now, even China is cleaning up its act. It wasn’t uncommon a decade ago for Chinese workers to work recycling computer waste that contained massive quantities of lead. Now China has banned the import of such waste.

如今，连中国也在改善自身行为。十年前，中国工人处理含有大量铅的电子废料进行回收并不罕见。现在中国已禁止进口此类废料。

Ronald Mills
Because starting in the late 60’s/early 70s, Republicans began whittling away at the new deal tax rates, incentives, and penalties that kept them here. Then Reagan poured gas all over them and lit a match with his moronic Nigerian Prince scam economics (that is exactly what Republican tax cut bs economic policies are).

因为在60年代末/70年代初，共和党人开始逐步削弱新政时期的税率、激励措施和惩罚条款，正是这些条款曾迫使企业留在这里。然后里根火上浇油，用他那愚蠢的“尼日利亚王子骗局”式的经济学点燃了火柴（这正是共和党减税骗局经济政策的本质）。


⬆️ Republican/Maga’s ⬆️ after every time they vote for yet another round of trickledown tax cut insanity and things just continue to get worse while sliding ever further back to the economic conditions of the late 1800’s. This time it will work for sure!!! The fifth times the charm….. I know! Maybe if you guys put tax rates in the negative percentage for rich people so instead of them ever having to pay any tax whatsoever we just give them all the money and whatever isn’t nailed to the floor every April. It’s all that’s left to do now. Maybe then your scam policies will work….

⬆️ 共和党/ Maga 们 ⬆️ 每次他们投票支持又一轮疯狂的涓滴减税政策后，情况只会继续恶化，进一步滑向19世纪末的经济状况。这次肯定会成功！！！第五次就是幸运次了….. 我知道了！也许你们应该把富人的税率设为负数百分比，这样他们不仅永远不用交任何税，我们每年四月还得把所有钱，连同地上没钉牢的东西都送给他们。这是现在唯一能做的事了。也许到那时你们的骗局政策就奏效了….

Conservatives/magas look at those New Deal era (otherwise known as the economic golden era they constantly cry about wanting back) eye-watering tax numbers rich people had to pay, 70%, 90%, etc., etc., and can’t fathom why it worked:

保守派/Maga们看着新政时期（也就是他们整天哭喊着想回去的经济黄金时代）那些令人咋舌的富人税率——70%、90%等等——却无法理解为什么它行得通：


It worked because they rarely, if ever, paid anything close to those numbers. Why? Because they received extremely generous write-offs and tax breaks for things like building their factories/companies in America, hiring workers, investing back into their businesses and workforces, ordering material and machinery from other American factories, modernizing said factories with products and equipment from other American companies, paying good wages and benefits. The new deal era tax/economic policies took the carrot or the stick approach to the wealthy business class.

它行得通是因为富人几乎从未真正支付过接近这些数字的税款。为什么？因为他们通过在美国建造工厂/公司、雇佣工人、投资回企业和员工队伍、向其他美国工厂订购材料和机械、用其他美国公司的产品和设备升级工厂、支付优厚的工资和福利等行为，获得了极其慷慨的税收冲销额和减免。新政时期的税收/经济政策对富有的商业阶层采取了胡萝卜加大棒的手段。

The more they invested back into their companies, workforce, and communities, the more tax breaks they got. Buying back their own stock was illegal. That was the carrot/stick of the New Deal era tax policies. They faced a choice: they could either take all those breaks/incentives and invest back into their companies ie expanding, hiring, increasing wages and benefits, modernizing, etc., or they could pay an eye-watering tax bill supporting robust social safety nets, infrastructure, and so on, but one way or another, they invested in America and American workers, companies, and factories. That is how it worked and why it worked. It created a positive economic feedback loop for the majority of Americans. That’s how the average Joe Schmoe could afford to raise a family, buy a house, buy a car, take vacations, and retire on a single income.

他们回投公司、员工队伍和社区越多，获得的税收减免就越多。回购自家股票在当时是非法的。这就是新政时期税收政策的胡萝卜与大棒。他们面临一个选择：要么接受所有这些减免/激励政策，将资金重新投资于公司，即扩张、雇佣、提高工资福利、现代化等；要么支付令人瞠目的税款，用于支撑强大的社会安全网、基础设施等等。但无论如何，他们都在投资美国、美国工人、美国公司和工厂。这就是其运作方式和成功原因。它为大多数美国人创造了一个积极的经济反馈循环。这就是为什么普通老百姓（Joe Schmoe）能够靠一份收入养家糊口、买房买车、度假旅行并退休养老。

This is also the answer to the never-ending MAGA question of the last four years of: “if the economy is so good, then why does it suck for so many people”? It sucks for them because you guys have spent the last five decades nuking those New Deal era tax policies that made it good for more than just a sext few. Now, not only do they pay little to no taxes, they take all those cuts and instead of investing back into their businesses, workforces, in America, they just buy back their own stock instead.

这也是对过去四年MAGA们不断提出的那个问题的答案：“如果经济这么好，为什么对这么多人来说却这么糟糕”？对他们来说糟糕，是因为你们这帮人过去五十年一直在摧毁那些新政时期的税收政策，正是这些政策让经济繁荣惠及的不只是少数人。现在，富人不仅缴纳很少甚至不缴税，他们还拿走了所有这些减免，不是重新投资于他们的企业、员工队伍和美国，而是用来回购自家股票。

That’s how a smoking-hot economy sucks for so many people. You guys nuked all those policies that created and protected a thriving middle class, and now only the wealthy, executives, and shareholders benefit from a good economy because of it. You destroyed most of the unxs and the fair labor relations boards that protected you. They have absolutely zero incentive or penalties to invest back into their businesses and American workers and every incentive to just keep it all for themselves and ship those jobs and factories to countries with peasant wages while telling you to go pound sand.

这就是为什么一个火热的经济对那么多人来说却很糟糕。你们摧毁了所有那些创造并保护了繁荣中产阶级的政策，如今只有富人、高管和股东才能从良好的经济中获益。你们摧毁了曾经保护你们的大多数工会和公平劳工关系委员会。他们现在完全没有动力或惩罚机制去重新投资于企业和美国工人，却有十足的动力将一切都据为己有，把工作岗位和工厂转移到工资低廉的国家，同时告诉你们“滚一边去”。

Enough with your “it can’t work, rich people will leave” we can’t tax rich people bullshit. It works. It very obviously worked. Trickle-up economics is proven to actually work. Trickle down tax cut bs is a blatant scam. Even you clowns don’t actually buy that shit any more. You just can’t admit you fucked up and reverse course before it’s too late cause “libtards, socialism”, blah blah childish asinine bullshit and Olympic caliber mental gymnastics.

别再扯什么“这行不通，富人会离开”、“我们不能对富人征税”之类的屁话了。它行得通。它非常明显地行得通过。“向上滴注经济学”（Trickle-up）被证明是切实有效的。涓滴减税（Trickle down）的废话是赤裸裸的骗局。连你们这些小丑自己现在都不信那套了。你们只是无法承认搞砸了，也无法在太晚之前改弦更张，就因为什么“自由派蠢货”、“社会主义”之类的幼稚愚蠢的屁话和奥林匹克级别的脑力诡辩。

Did you know that during the New Deal era that it was not only the only time in American history we created a middle class, it is the only time in human history we ever created one? (Europe adopted the same policies during that time and created theirs as well). In no other time in human history has it happened. In all other history, there was a small percentage of wealthy and poor people, and that’s it. Two classes.

你们知道吗？新政时期不仅是美国历史上我们唯一一次创造中产阶级的时代，也是人类历史上我们唯一一次创造中产阶级的时代？（欧洲当时采纳了同样的政策，也创造了他们的中产阶级）。在人类历史上其他任何时期都未曾发生过。在其余所有历史中，只有少数富人和穷人，仅此而已。两个阶级。

The period when we taxed rich people is the only time in our species’ entire history that we ever created a middle class. Ever. We need to go back to taxing the rich like we used to. We need to make stock buybacks illegal again. No, that does not mean just take all their money and give it to ourselves; it means bring back those policies and tax rates that made them invest in America and American workers. Guess what? They still get obscenely wealthy either way, but that’s how you make capitalism work for more than just a sext few.

向富人征税的那个时期，是我们人类整个历史中唯一一次创造出中产阶级的时代。有史以来唯一一次。我们需要恢复像过去那样对富人征税。我们需要再次将股票回购定为非法。不，这并不意味着直接拿走他们所有的钱分给我们自己；而是意味着恢复那些迫使他们投资美国和美国工人的政策与税率。猜猜会怎样？无论哪种方式，他们仍然会变得极其富有，但只有这样，你才能让资本主义惠及的不只是少数人。

All the “but they’ll leave if we tax them” is 100% bs propaganda from those same rich people. They aren’t going anywhere. They just don’t want to pay taxes. It’s been proven time and time again. When Britain first realized that they needed to start taxing all the wealthy industrialists or become a nation of serfs, all the industrialists screamed “if you tax us, we’ll throw our factories into the sea and flee the country”!!! Britain began taxing them. Care to take a guess on how many factories ended up in the sea and how many rich industrialists fled the country? The answer is zero. Britain called their bluff and began creating a strong middle class.

所有那些“如果我们征税他们就会离开”的论调，100%都是那些富人自己炮制的狗屁宣传。他们哪儿也不会去。他们就是不想交税。这一点已经被一次又一次地证明了。当英国最初意识到他们需要开始对所有富有的工业家征税，否则将沦为农奴国家时，所有工业家都叫嚣着“如果向我们征税，我们就把工厂扔进海里，逃离这个国家”！！！英国开始向他们征税。猜猜看有多少工厂最终沉入了海底？有多少富有的工业家逃离了国家？答案是零。英国识破了他们的虚张声势，并开始创造一个强大的中产阶级。

When we in the US began digging ourselves out of the Depression and realized that we too needed to start taxing rich people or become a nation of peasants, all the rich people threatened to leave and take their companies/factories with them. We called their bluff, began taxing them, and created a middle class envied the world over. Guess how many left? The answer is zero. They started leaving when Republicans began whittling away at all those tax penalties and incentives starting at the very end of the sixties and early seventies and continued until Reagan nuked it all, and that’s why shit sucks now and why we’re sliding right back to the way things were in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s.

当美国开始从大萧条中自救，并意识到我们也需要开始对富人征税，否则将变成一个农民国家时，所有的富人都威胁要离开并带走他们的公司/工厂。我们识破了他们的虚张声势，开始对他们征税，并创造了一个令全世界羡慕的中产阶级。猜猜有多少人离开了？答案是零。他们开始离开，是在共和党人从六十年代末七十年代初开始逐步削弱所有那些税收惩罚和激励措施，并持续到里根将其彻底摧毁之后。这就是为什么现在情况如此糟糕，以及为什么我们正滑回19世纪末20世纪初的状态。

The era when we taxed the rich is the only time we ever created a middle class in our species’ entire recorded history, and when we don’t tax them (the rest of human history), it doesn’t exist and/or disappears just like it’s doing now.

向富人征税的时代，是我们人类整个有记录的历史中唯一一次创造出中产阶级的时代；而当我们不向他们征税时（人类历史的其余时期），中产阶级就不存在和/或消失，就像现在正在发生的那样。

xiao Yang

America accounted for over half of global manufacturing output in the 1940s, but the figure dropped to a tenth in 2024, indicating hard, or impossible to bring manufacturing back to US. Here comes the reasons:

美国在1940年代曾占全球制造业产出的一半以上，但到2024年，这一比例已降至十分之一，这表明将制造业带回美国是困难的，甚至是不可能的。原因如下：

First: America’s high-cost labour supply. The average pay for a production worker in America now is nearly six times that in Vietnam. Yet those wages are still not attracting enough Americans into manufacturing. Welders, electricians and machinery operators are urgently needed. C.C. Wei, boss of TSMC, a Taiwanese chipmaker, said the semiconductors production in Arizona was “being constrained by the labour shortage” in the state.

第一：美国的高成本劳动力供应。美国生产工人现在的平均工资几乎是越南的六倍。然而，这样的工资水平仍然无法吸引足够的美国人进入制造业。焊工、电工和机械操作员的需求十分迫切。台湾（地区）芯片制造商台积电（TSMC）的老板刘德音（C.C. Wei）表示，亚利桑那州的半导体生产“正受到该州劳动力短缺的制约”。

Robots can’t save American manufacturing. In 2023 there were just 295 industrial robots for every 10,000 manufacturing workers in America; while, the figures are 470 in China and 1,012 in South Korea.

机器人拯救不了美国制造业。2023年，美国每1万名制造业工人仅拥有295台工业机器人；而中国的数字是470台，韩国是1,012台。

Second, America’s existing factories are ageing; while, troubled state of construction in America resulted in difficulty in building factories. Over half of the roughly 50,000 manufacturing facilities across the country are more than three decades old; the average plant was built some 50 years ago.

第二，美国现有的工厂正在老化；同时，美国建筑业的问题重重导致建设工厂困难重重。全国大约5万家制造设施中，超过一半已有三十多年历史；平均工厂大约建于50年前。

Third, inadequate infrastructure

第三，基础设施不足

Much of the electricity grid was constructed in the 1960s and 70s and is at or near the end of its useful life, a factor behind increasingly frequent power cuts. Factories seeking a new connection to the grid face years of delay.

大部分电网建于1960和70年代，已处于或接近使用寿命终点，这是停电日益频繁的一个因素。寻求接入电网的新工厂面临多年的延误。

Fourth, Trump’s tariffs are raising the cost of everything from the steel needed to build plants to the machinery that fills them. almost a third of the inputs used in American manufacturing are imported.

第四，特朗普的关税提高了从建造工厂所需的钢材到填充工厂的机械等一切的成本。美国制造业使用的投入品中近三分之一是进口的。

Although factory jobs in America have dwindled, America still plays a central role in global supply chains, including by developing world-leading innovations in areas from semiconductors to pharmaceuticals. Trump should give up the idea of yearning for a return of the manufacturing, but let America get on with designing the future.

尽管美国的工厂工作岗位减少了，但美国仍在全球供应链中扮演着核心角色，包括在从半导体到制药等领域开发世界领先的创新。特朗普应该放弃渴望制造业回归的想法，而让美国继续设计未来。

Yaozhou
This is a speech given by a Chinese girl at a Harvard graduation ceremony, which has faced harsh criticism on China’s knowledge-sharing platform Zhihu.

这是一位中国女孩在哈佛大学毕业典礼上的演讲，该演讲在中国的知识分享平台知乎上遭到了严厉批评。


Many people consider this kind of speech to be hollow, boring, and formulaic.

许多人认为这类演讲空洞、无聊且充满陈词滥调。

These so-called Harvard elites are seen as a cancer to human society.

这些所谓的哈佛精英被视为人类社会的毒瘤。

Especially for some developing countries, it is crucial never to let such people hold political power.

尤其对一些发展中国家而言，绝不能让这类人掌握政治权力至关重要。

It is also these kinds of people who have obstructed the return of manufacturing to the United States.

也正是这类人阻碍了制造业回归美国。

Contemporary American higher education, especially elite universities like Harvard, Yale, and Stanford, has long prided itself on being the guardians of freedom, the humanities, global responsibility, and social justice.

当代美国高等教育，尤其是哈佛、耶鲁、斯坦福等精英大学，长期以来以自由、人文、全球责任和社会正义的守护者自居。

This educational system produces large numbers of young people with international perspectives, moral sensitivity, and strong communication skills, who are active in public affairs, nonprofits, policy research, media, and other so-called “impact industries.”

这种教育体系培养出大量具有国际视野、道德敏感性、强大沟通能力的年轻人，他们活跃于公共事务、非营利组织、政策研究、媒体等所谓的“影响力行业”。

The “conscience elites” shaped by this education:

这种教育塑造出的“良知精英”：

Do not participate in real production processes;

不参与实际的生产过程；

Do not take on the hard work of rebuilding infrastructure or transforming manufacturing;

不承担重建基础设施或转型制造业的艰苦工作；

Instead, they rely on the labor of others and position themselves as “moral storytellers” who express care from a lofty distance.

相反，他们依赖他人的劳动，并将自己定位为“道德叙事者”，站在高处表达关怀。

What they excel at is narrating the plight of workers, not rebuilding the workers’ ecosystem. They write passionate papers discussing the suffering of Bangladeshi female laborers, stand on TED stages declaring “workers are human beings too,” and even criticize China’s so-called slave labor.

他们擅长的是叙述工人的困境，而非重建工人的生态系统。他们撰写激情洋溢的论文讨论孟加拉国女工的苦难，站在TED讲台上宣称“工人也是人”，甚至批评中国所谓的奴隶劳工。

They never solve problems themselves but instead stand on a moral high ground to criticize and judge those who do.

他们从不自己解决问题，而是站在道德高地上批评和评判那些解决问题的人。

Wes Prang
For the same reason we sent manufacturing jobs out of the US.

原因和我们当初把制造业工作送出美国一样。

Business Owners want our Labor and Money. But don't want to pay us, don't want to deal with Labor Laws, or with Safety Regulations.

企业主想要我们的劳动力和金钱。但他们不想付给我们钱，不想处理劳工法，也不想遵守安全法规。

So they opened factories in impoverished nations, where they'll do a month's worth of labor for one day's worth of pay. Then Owners pocket the difference, instead of passing the savings onto us.

所以他们就在贫穷国家开设工厂，在那里工人干一个月的活只拿到相当于一天工钱的报酬。然后企业主就把差价装进自己口袋，而不是把省下的钱让利给我们。

But instead of paying us enough to buy these cheaply made, cheaply produced foreign products, Owners want more Tax Breaks, more Deregulation, to turn Schools into secure Daycare Centers, and to eliminate Minimum Wage.

但企业主们非但不付给我们足够的钱去买这些廉价制造、廉价生产的外国产品，反而想要更多的税收减免、更少的监管，想把学校变成安全的日托中心，并废除最低工资。

Then can't understand why we get dumber and poorer. In short, we keep doing this:

然后他们还不明白为什么我们变得更笨更穷。简而言之，我们（指企业主/政策制定者）一直在这样做：