Why Trump's Dreams of a 1950s-Era Economy Won't Happen

...presidential willpower just isn't that important in real life. Optimism might cause a few manufacturers like Straub to engage in a small burst of hiring, but in the long-term it will be cold hard economic incentives that prove decisive... Although policies such as the corporate tax cut might have a marginal effect on manufacturing, taxes overall are a small factor for industry... although corporate tax rates remained steady or came down during the 1990s and 2000s, manufacturing employment fell off a cliff. Rebuilding U.S. manufacturing is a good goal, but there are no quick fixes.

Second, even if U.S. manufacturing regains its dominance, most of the jobs aren't coming back. Like agriculture a century ago, manufacturing is doing more with less -- productivity continues to increase, even as demand for manufactured goods remains relatively constant.