QuoteIt is my impression (and correct me if I am wrong) but when these factory jobs were actually prevalent most people did not consider them good jobs.

Pay was enough so people could live independent lives.  There was enough for freedom.  There was enough for dreams.  Most people are just trying to keep up now.  Freedom is when money meets needs with some extra left over.  But the big reason for the nostalgia of the factory job is the social connections that went along with having one. 

You were a 'winner' in a world of losers.

Quote from: monsta666 on May 11, 2025, 03:52 AMIt is easier to dream and listen to people who tell you what you want to hear rather than what you need to hear.

Boy if that isn't applicable to all sorts of things, even peak oil being one. It is probably because it is a common human characteristic....we hear and believe what sounds good to us...and when the real analytical/scientific folks come along and dispute it with data and logic and expertise and whatnot...well....they are trolls and liars.

Works for all sorts of things I imagine, including the entire "the good ol' days" fallacy (for lack of a better term).

A fairy typical article about the great factory jobs Amerikans dream of, although the final question in the coda is worth considering:

This brings us to an even bigger question: What warrants all these interventions to boost one particular sector of the economy? Is manufacturing actually special? And, if so, what makes it so special? That's next week in the Planet Money newsletter.

What's special is that manufacturing is where the biggest return comes on capital, since a factory can produce so many units to sell.  So if you own a factory, you make a lot more money than if you own a fast food joint, which can only sell so many burgers.  To get rich, you need to own a chain of burger shops.  Who dreams of factory jobs?  CAPITALISTS!

https://www.npr.org/sections/planet-money/2025/05/13/g-s1-66112/why-arent-americans-filling-the-manufacturing-jobs-we-already-have

RE