It’s Time to Pay Up!

 

For decades, American manufacturers chased cheap labor overseas, abandoning their hometown factories and the workers who built them. It was all in the name of profit. They told us it was to keep prices low, but let’s be honest—those savings never really made their way to the average American household.

Instead, what we got were hollowed-out towns, lost jobs, and communities struggling to stay afloat.

Meanwhile, corporate profits hit record highs. Executives got richer. Shareholders cheered. And Wall Street rolled on, detached from the real impact of those decisions.

Now, fast forward to today: Tariffs are back in the conversation, and those same companies want us—the consumers—to foot the bill. They want to raise prices and act like victims of bad policy. But here’s the thing:

We don’t have to buy it—literally.

Consumers Still Hold the Cards

The beauty of a free market is that it cuts both ways. If something gets too expensive, we simply stop buying it. We delay the purchase. We switch brands. We find alternatives. And when enough people do that, demand drops—and companies are forced to adjust.

That’s the real pressure point. Not Washington. Not Wall Street.

You and me.

When companies realize they can’t pass on every new cost without losing customers, they have two choices:

1. Lower their prices and take a hit on profit.
2. Rethink how and where they manufacture

Either way, the chickens have come home to roost.

This is what happens when you build a house of cards on cheap labor, overseas dependencies, and the assumption that the American consumer will keep on buying no matter what.

Well, that assumption is breaking.

Tariffs Aren’t the Problem—They’re a Wake-Up Call

Do tariffs create short-term challenges? Sure. But they’re also a tool—one that forces companies to face the consequences of their past decisions. For years, the U.S. has propped up a global supply chain that often favors foreign labor, foreign governments, and foreign control.

Tariffs, when done right, can be the push needed to bring jobs and production back home. And if it means corporate profits take a hit along the way?

So be it.

The American worker already paid—with lost wages, closed plants, and broken communities.

The American taxpayer paid—with subsidies and social programs to help fill the gaps.

And now, they want us to pay again at the register?

Not this time.

It’s Time to Pay Up

This isn’t about being anti-business. It’s about fairness. It’s about calling out a system that rewarded offshoring and punished loyalty. It’s about reminding corporations that they can’t keep asking the American people to bear the burden of their bad bets.

The rules are changing. Accountability is coming.

And yes—the chickens have come home to roost.

We’ve paid enough.

It’s time they pay up.