[throwanem]

In which metaphor the thesis would implicitly be that we can't for some reason disassemble the "ratchet" and carefully retract or remove the "pawl," but have to chuck a "lit stick of dynamite" into the "workshop."

No, there is still a lot of work to do before we get close to making this make any sense.

[SpicyLemonZest]

I agree, and the reason I don't support the dynamite is precisely because I think there are less destructive ways to reshore manufacturing if we want to. The author seems to be making the opposite point, that the problem is so intractable the US must not "seek to own supply, but rather control it". (Which is clearly true for some things - it's very silly to have nonzero tariffs on coffee and bananas - but he seems to intend it more broadly than that.)

[throwanem]

It isn't especially culpable of Thompson, I think.

If he's not immediately well suited to think through a kind of political times last seen outside living memory, well, who immediately is? He didn't build his reputation instantaneously the first time either, but over years. I just think it may now be more a hindrance than a help, in having established a higher expectation than circumstances may any longer allow reliably living up to for a while at least.

As I say, I don't really hold it against him, even on a professional level. Someone who's consistently wrong in an interpretable way is not of much less value than someone with a string of good calls - maybe more, if the contrarian is strong on theory and the "superpredictor" shows signs of capitalizing on a run of good luck. Which of those he turns out to be if any I suppose we'll find out, and previously having put everything new behind a paywall is questionable, but at the very least I suspect that to keep up with his doings may remain of some interest.