Having actually read “Hillbilly Elegy,” I can assure you that it is not the case for Donald Trump. While the author does comment on the decline of manufacturing jobs and the cultural gulf between hillbillies and wealthy, cosmopolitan Ivy Leaguers, he doesn’t call for protectionism or a return to some sort of hillbilly golden age. In fact, he is as critical of his own people as he is of the elites, and he explicitly denies that he knows of any sweeping governmental solutions to the problems he identifies throughout the book.
While the roots of the book are in Kentucky, most of the action takes place in declining manufacturing towns in southern Ohio. For me, that matters, because there is a much stronger case for federal regional aid to areas with declining resource-based economies than there is for assistance to the Rust Belt. A coal miner inevitably has specialized skills; if there is no market for his product, you can’t reasonably expect him to be a skilled factory worker, let alone a code writer. A blue-collar worker in a dead manufacturing plant, on the other hand, has skills which translate better to other kinds of employment.
What do we, as a society, owe to people who have lost their jobs to technological change or foreign competition? In my opinion, the answer is the following:
- All Americans (not just hillbillies) are entitled to a limited basic income and to decent health care;
- Higher levels of funding for more effective vocational retraining programs; and
- Either a beefed-up EITC or wage insurance for a limited time period in order to address the likely transition to a lower-paying job.
Protectionism isn’t the answer. Leaving all of the other arguments about efficiency and government intervention aside, it makes no sense for us to try to maintain a low value-added, 20th Century economy in a dynamic 21st Century world. Nostalgia won’t make America great.