To compete with the rest of the world, the US companies cannot create commodity products or services. Our labor costs are too high for commodities.
Thus, they must chase the Next Big Thing. The result is that they have to keep "flushing" their workforce to chase a different butterly every few years as the prior NextBigThing turns into a commodity and drifts overseas or is automated.
To do this, companies want just-in-time specialists that they don't have to train. Loyalty and hard-work alone won't give them that.
We can compete with the rest of the world, we simply need to do what other countries are and produce local demand for the local supply.
e.g. farm to school is a great way to provide local farms consistent local demand baseline so they're not just selling to the arbitrageurs and megacorps via often-gamed futures markets.
I'm a big fan of de-commoditizing what really shouldn't be commodities in the first place.
Most is used for domestic consumption, but we're on track to be net-exporters.
It's been a while since I did any serious work on food policy, but the US was the largest exporter of grain for a while, too. Not the largest producer, not the largest consumer -- that'd be China -- but largest exporter.
Thus, they must chase the Next Big Thing. The result is that they have to keep "flushing" their workforce to chase a different butterly every few years as the prior NextBigThing turns into a commodity and drifts overseas or is automated.
To do this, companies want just-in-time specialists that they don't have to train. Loyalty and hard-work alone won't give them that.