Nixon marked the beginning of the manufacturing outsourcing to China in 1972. The outsourcing started from nothing in 1972, but it built up rapidly until it becomes a huge trend in the late 80's and remains until now. Nonetheless, 1972 marked the year when the American corporations began to realize that they could enrich themselves hugely by shifting manufacturing to China, thereby emptying out factories in the mid-west and contributing to the wage stagnation and the decline of the American middle class.