Gina Raimondo

And millions of Americans lost their jobs, and a lot of communities were crushed.

How do I know this?

Because I lived through it.

In the early 80s, when the Boulevard Watch factory closed, my dad lost the only career he'd ever known after devoting almost 30 years of his life to the job.

One job, one company, one identity, gone.

Here's the thing, he was 56.

He still needed a job.

He still needed to work.

My dad was a smart guy.

He understood the economics.

of outsourcing to China.

And he knew it would help some American businesses grow faster and add new jobs.

But he and all of his buddies still needed a bridge to another chapter of work, and there wasn't one.

I mean, after a lot of pain and bitterness on his part, my family got through it.

But the truth of it is, my country paid a huge price for that.

poorly planned transition.

In fact, I argue 30 years later, we're still paying a price for that poorly planned transition in the form of increasingly divisive, dysfunctional, violent politics.

Now ... Think about this.

At that time, it was a few million Americans who lost their jobs.

Some say two million, some say three million.