I'm not sure that you can accurately say that those jobs are never coming back.
For instance, what happens if Congress passes a law that requires any goods imported into the US to be made under conditions equal to those here? For instance, you have to have environmentally friendly factories, OSHA-approved lighting and safety, etc. etc.
If that happened, many people would put some of the production here to speed time to market, reduce shipping costs, and eliminate currency fluctuations.
So you bring the machines back but that won't create the levels of unskilled employment from the past, manufacturers employee a fraction of the people they used to.
If the revenue is local, you can tax it and provide a social safety net. Works using tariffs as well, but better to have the industry on your own soil.
But the way the Republicans since the Tea Party take over in 2010 there's no push to raise taxes higher at the local level. In fact, the opposite is the case where many of them want to remove as many taxes locally as possible. This conflict of interest with the false assertion of their conservative localism is the heart of the issue I have with them (I would consider myself a liberal localist). If there ideology was consistent the absence of federal taxes but extensive local taxes would offset their proposals. This would allow them to pay for a social safety net that wouldn't falter. But right now they're refusing to do that. Maybe after they're challenged in the 2018 mid-terms maybe they'll go that direction but I seriously doubt it'll happen that way. I expect more corporate subsidies via tax exemptions/shelters/etc at the cost of general welfare of the states.
America is the 11th richest nation in the world (per-capita), if they wanted to find the money they could do it right now.
I'm not saying America doesn't have a balance of trade problem, I just think people put too much faith in a resolution to that. This https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pa5_tudyAF8 is what modern manufacturing looks like, note there aren't many people working there.
For instance, what happens if Congress passes a law that requires any goods imported into the US to be made under conditions equal to those here? For instance, you have to have environmentally friendly factories, OSHA-approved lighting and safety, etc. etc.
If that happened, many people would put some of the production here to speed time to market, reduce shipping costs, and eliminate currency fluctuations.
So never say never.