Pick any distressed, formerly industrial town in today's America and they all share a similar history of events leading them down the path of decline. For decades, families and local economies could be supported by industries that sadly, the people in power during the 1990's through 2000's, exported to countries like Mexico, China, Cambodia, Vietnam, and others via NAFTA and the WTO. We were told Global Free trade would reduce the need to provide international aid, stop foreign wars, and decrease illegal immigration and refugees by bringing up the economies of these "developing countries." To the contrary, we now have thousands of towns across America infected with drug addiction (both legal and illegal) and dependent on Government Welfare and/or making a living via illegal means.

Working at companies like RCA, GM, Carrier, Dana, Delco, and many others, not only provided a livable wage for the employee and his/her family, but also resulted in a tangible product to which the worker could point with satisfaction and say, I made that. The pride of one's son saying, "my dad made the furniture for this office building." "My mom makes Levi Strauss jeans."

Over the last 30+ years, manufacturing jobs were first replaced with lower wage, lower benefits job options in the retail sector such as Wal-Mart, fast food, and gas stations. More recently, the options are predominantly distribution related. Enormous warehouses on the outskirts of town have replaced the factories where workers now unload, sort, stack, and deliver the goods imported from outside of the U.S. In comparison to being able to point to a Pontiac and say, "my dad makes those!" the amount of fulfillment received by a job in customer service is miniscule.

So, what has deindustrialization lead to? Once economically bustling cities are now ravaged by meth, crime, heroin, fentanyl, human trafficking, and abandoned, boarded up, graffiti-laden buildings. Local governments bragging that they have secured a new Federal prison to bring "good paying jobs" back to the locality. (Consider the mental stress caused by having your decades long factory job shipped to a foreign country and being left with the option of either working in a warehouse, retail, call center, or locking up your co-workers who turned to drugs to deal with the loss)

It isn't just the loss of the industrial jobs that tore the heart out of our cities. Entire support systems built up to serve the employees and their families. Restaurants, churches, clubs, teams, and more slowly died when industry left, leaving hollowed out shells of former vibrancy.

As a country, we pride ourselves on ending slavery, but we've spent the last 30+ years exporting our manufacturing industry to slave labor. In Vietnam, current wages are equivalent to $1 to $2 per hour and we import $127 Billion of their manufactured goods.

Elected officials take an oath to uphold the Constitution which relegates them to "provide for the common defence" and "promote the general welfare." Despite these basic and profound obligations, the federal government has overseen the complete loss of the manufacturing of key components needed to remain a free and self-sustaining economy. While companies like John Deere and CNH Industrial still assemble tractors in the U.S., many precision parts—like advanced hydraulic pumps, valves, and electronic control units—are no longer made domestically. These components often come from Germany (Bosch Rexroth) or Japan (Komatsu, Kubota). Rural mechanics often wait weeks for parts; a delay that directly affects harvesting. As we have seen during various shipping crises in recent years, a full dependence on foreign imports quickly cripples the entire US economy.

In October 1992, H. Ross Perot spent $3.5 Million to air a 30-minute televised speech with graphics and data, which now prove him to be the economic Nostradamus of his time. "The Giant Sucking Sound" in his crystal ball indeed came to pass. The growth of the Mexican economy has been in its cartels which bring fentanyl and methamphetamine to our working class as an escape from their unfulfilling jobs. Prior to the early 90s, meth, and now fentanyl and heroin deaths, were rare and shocking. Now every one of us personally knows one or more people who passed away or had a family member pass away from an overdose.

It took 30+ years to get to this point. We cannot expect it to change overnight, but we'd much rather know the ship has been turned than remain on the same course. And, we're excited for the investment opportunities that come with this new direction in economic policy. The days of 1,000 people needed for a manufacturing plant are no more. The new American Manufacturing Industry will be a combination of robotics, AI, and humans which will allow for higher wages for the humans, albeit fewer employed per plant. We'd rather have the manufacturing here though, than none at all, with dependency on foreign adversaries for our essential systems and components. While the factories will not be built/rebuilt instantaneously, the construction jobs created to open them will help bring back the middle class in the process of them being reestablished.

The adage is, you tax that of which you want less. You subsidize that of which you want more. Therefore, a goal of reducing the income tax while simultaneously increasing the tax on imported goods, follows this rule. (Remember, income tax is a tax on earnings, NOT on wealth!)

While there is much worry and argument over tariffs - we see opportunity

JKS Investment Management of Thurston Springer subscribes to an elite list of research software and AI-based investment applications. We are constantly mining to identify the best places to put money to work. Our team spends every day thoroughly reviewing where the institutional money is moving and we follow the leaders for our portfolios and clients.

While extreme market pull-backs are never enjoyable to any investor, it is the part of our jobs that we love - finding the investment opportunities in a sea of red. Current examples are:

• Domestic energy sector, i.e. US-based natural gas and oil companies.
• Regional Banks - the current administration is focusing on deregulation in order to fast-track the building of industry. Banks thrive in a deregulated environment.
• Domestic Materials. What could help domestic basic materials more than tariffs on their international competitors!

In summary, now is the moment to spend time with children and grandchildren, nieces, nephews, and friends. Share with them what life was like when communities had the bond of industry in our American towns. Today's young people do not know what that era was like and we each need to do everything we can to bring back fulfilling careers and healthy cities for our future generations.