I have a subscription to The Economist magazine. Often they write deep and heavy stuff that even I do not understand. Then they turned their attention to the Donald Trump and Brexit Phenomenon
The key to the rise of this movement is the manufacturing sector in several different big countries. 40 years ago countries like the US and Britain had large manufacturing sectors. In the areas with heavy manufacturing activity, there was work. If a worker lost a job at one factory they had hope of finding another job in the area where they live.
All of a sudden a few years ago this changed. Factories started to close. Jobs went to other countries. The Economist does not blame regional trade agreements like NAFTA or Europe's one market.
They put the blame for the loss of manufacturing jobs on the rise of very cheap labor coming from China.
A large group of manufacturing workers aged 25 years to 54 years found themselves unemployed with little or no prospect of finding new work where they live. They decline to move. They use up their unemployment benefits. They drop out of the labor market. As you can imagine, these people become bitter and angry. Like desperate Germans in the early 1930's they are prone to listen to some person offering them relief from their current circumstances. This lead to the rise of Hitler and the Nazis, by the way.
Refugees and waves of immigrants were also discussed in The Economist article. Most of think that people get resentful at the thought of a lot of people of another color or culture coming to their society. The article did not see color of the immigrants or different culture as the main issue. Quite simply it is fear of losing ones job or social benefits to these new arrivals. Trump and the Brexit group played on all of these fears and frustrations.
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