Ok, that is kind of a strange rambling...and being short on time...just a few comments.
First some facts: US manufacturing started declining as a percentage of the US economy in the 1960's and accelerated in the 1970's.
Second, WTF did Clinton do that wasn't being done in the prior 12 years?
Clinton brought China into the World Trade Organization. Their administration endorsed free global trade but without any reflection of the absolute labor arbitrage between them and us. Better known as neo-liberal policy. This was great for the tycoons but threw the blue collar workers under the bus. There are many who think Clinton was corrupted by the PRC but since that can not be proven I will just say he was an over educated idiot that did not know any better. One does have to wonder though, why neo-liberals would have been surprised when industry went straight into China from the US and why they would not have stopped what they were doing. But this is where I blame both democrats and republicans.
First (and trivially) it was GWB
and Congress that did the final deed that allow China to join the WTO, but Clinton
and Congress did pave the way. And this was widely supported when it passed the House and Senate, so both parties get to share credit/blame. Personally, I think this 'issue' is largely a red herring. Secondarily, your eccentric tidbit on Clinton being corrupted by China tells me more about the strange and untrustworthy sites/sources you read, than the perceived issue at hand. And I never voted for Clinton, and always thought him to be more of a flashy used car salesman than anything else. It seems that so often you latch onto odd conspiracy theories that paint our presidents in strange colors to fit some XYZ narrative. In doing so, it seems that you make our presidents far more powerful than they really are.
Even if China hadn't gained WTO status, most of this low value labor would have just headed to other third world countries over the last 20 years, like Vietnam, Thailand, Philippines, Mexico, India, Indonesia, et.al.
So again, even if you think this is a bigly issue, it is Congress as much or more than the sitting president that makes this happen. And it is because Americans vote for these critters that this happens. It isn't nefarious, it isn't some secret plot, it is mostly ignorant voters. And much of it ties back to my comment on theocratic desires by people conned by the Repug party over a shifting list of BS (civil unions, gay marriage, abortion, prayer, crime, church rights and socialism) to vote for their guy who main intent is to regularly back big business and big money.
On Germany, I'd say there are 3 big things that Germany does differently than the US:
(1) UHC
(2) low military budget compared to GDP
(3) Quality universal education
Now which of our 2 parties much more strongly supports these 3 things? It is not a trick question, nor are the differences even close. Without the right wing BS on all 3 topics, the Democrats would be able to push much harder to get these ideas thru. However, without strong congressional support (aka electing Democratic representatives, it ain't going to happen. Are there currently Democratic congressional critters that are against these ideas? Of course there are. However, 99% of Repugs are against all 3.
I totally agree. In order to maintain strong manufacturing superiority it also takes strong socialist programs for the middle class. Because the only way the US can compete with lower labor in China is to make sure our labor can feed and house themselves at the lowest as possible cost. This is where I blame the red party.
Ok, so far by your thinking, we have 3 bad checks for Repugs and 1 shared bad check for both parties. Yet, you think they are both the same...sigh...