Ah, that makes sense. You are looking at this from a longterm/macroeconomic perspective. In that context, your responses now seem logical although limited by your specific perspective - admittedly as are mine.

You might have mistaken the hassle that supply chain managers face as an economic hassle. It's not. However, your mile-high view of supply chain manager value is correct - from your mile high view. The view from "in the trenches" (admittedly a shorter term view) is that many people aren't particularly valued where they are, which is part of the reason why they are changing jobs in droves (see the "Great Recession"). They move to higher paying jobs at companies that see the value and "a rising tide raises all ships" - the average salary for those high demand positions rises, at least theoretically.

My frustration here comes from you not being able to make the shift from macro to micro perspectives as my background encourages. Your'e not wrong though, given where you are looking from.

The other leg of the conversation pertains to manufacturing in the US, which you take the macro perspective again (it's obvious now). If the Trump Tariffs went into full force, the F150 would not exist as we know it today. The entire vehicle would have to be re-engineered to utilize raw materials and manufacturing in the US. This is no mean feat, and would be extremely painful for the consumer('s wallet).

What actually happened were much milder tariffs than were proposed. Supply chains were re-routed, and the implemented tariffs reduced margins to very bad levels, but not dangerously negative crisis-mode levels. There has been an increased reliance on Engineers like myself and everyone else, but the profits simply aren't there to increase wages. You see a lot of people retiring, tons of layoffs, and lots of people switching jobs. Just last week I saw a "times really suck but it's time to work harder" email from corporate - and I work at a great company. Eventually, market pressures will increase those wages but they aren't there yet for the majority of people. On a personal level, I was able to significantly better my own economic position, but I'm also doing about 3x the work, and am replacing laid off people. That might end up being the trend in these lean times though - fewer, busier people that are better paid but with the side effect of more 'average' people unemployed.

Sorry about the previous frostiness, you never know who you are talking to on the internet. I'm actually starting my Phd in Business soon, but have studied Economics a lot - my MBA required me to read just about every textbook cover to cover, and often more than one per course - and that's in addition to my recreational reading which is extensive.