A Town That Reveals All of Trump’s Bad Economic Ideas

The first time I set foot in Hickory, a small city at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains in North Carolina, the area’s beauty hid its sorrow. Forests rich in oak, maple and pine have given birth to dozens of furniture companies that employ thousands of workers. Hickory’s factories craft the kind of heavy, solid American furniture that is meant to last generations. But everything changed in 2001, when China joined the World Trade Organization. The surge in Chinese imports devastated Hickory and other small factory towns like it. Read Full Article »