PE played a part in manufacturing leaving the US. Often the buyouts were of sick companies, and it was just the optimum way to monetize their death. But without PE not all of them wouldnhave eventually died, and it would have given policy makers more time to react to what was happening.
It’s just natural that nobody wanted to pay for outdated machines and tooling in developed countries.
Labor costs, permits, fees, etc., means that buying used just doesn’t make sense unless it’s almost free.
Whereas developing countries were willing to pay a lot more, sometimes as much as 50 cents on the dollar compared to brand new equipment and they would send a team to rip it out too.
I’ve heard that applied to almost everything too heavy to move by forklift during the 80s, 90s, and 2000s.
