From the book “Fear in the White House” by Bob Woodward, published 2018:
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Oh sure everyone working in a blast furnace can migrate to a same pay office job.
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Nobody said that. But if you erect barriers to steel imports, then your cars and washing machines and railroad cars and ties and infrastructure and everything is going to cost more. So you are going to have less.
There are things those blue collar workers can do besides stand in front of a blast furnace - heck many of them are doing it already. They’re running car repair shops or being HVAC installers or doing other things in service industries which for mysterious reasons aren’t factored into these tariff shenanigans.
You want to stand in a blast furnace plant, help yourself. I’d rather train people to be plumbers and electricians and construction supervisors and nurses and other good paying service jobs.
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Actually that is pretty much what Cohn was saying.
An office job is not an option for many folks due to the cost of university education and lacking IQ of a portion of the working class.
He was trying to make a point a kindergartener would understand.
I don’t believe he was literally saying “Guys from the blast furnace can go to an office building and get a job as a mid-level Advertising Executive at BBD&O”.
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Oh, come on Goofy. You know there’s no such thing as a metaphor. Cohn must have been only talking about blast furnace workers, no one else. Makes complete sense, in context of course. 
Pete
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The operative phrase here “people leaving voluntarily.”
As much as it angers the Job Creator class, America is a relatively wealthy country. So if you want people to work a crappy job, you have to pay them in most cases.
There are lots of jobs that pay as well and even better than say, coal mining. And the best part is you don’t have to work in a coal mine.
Last week, an administration official was lamenting that Americans aren’t making t-shirts anymore. Yeah, that sucks for the Job Creators, but for most working Americans there are so many better jobs out there than making t-shirts it simply isn’t worth it.
Now, there is some hope on the horizon. The new tariffs and economic policy may force enough Americans into poverty that they are willing to take crappy jobs for lower pay.
In the meantime, it is unfortunate that so many Americans are able to get to good jobs with good working conditions that the Job Creators are left out in the cold.
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They’ll feel better after the tax cut.
Steve
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