Posted on 02/06/2014 6:49:10 AM PST by Cringing Negativism Network
Today is the day, that our trade figures were released for 2013.
Once again, America has failed to gain any appreciable trade volume, vs China.
Go into any American store, look on any shelf, and all the stuff is "Made in China".
The big problem is: in China, all the things are "Made in China" as well.
(Excerpt) Read more at census.gov ...
All in trade balance month over month was worse, nonfarm productivity stronger than projected with prior months revised up and unit labor costs were weaker than expected and revised down from prior month.
So better productivity and cheaper labor costs simply mean less workers. At some point,when we’re all poor here, the flows will reverse. China won’t be able to sell to us. They will have to support us since they own so much of our debt.
Of course as i said this happens after we no longer have workers who can afford anything.
Good luck finding bananas. Say good bye to salad in the winter time. Say good bye to any exports American companies sell abroad. When consumer spending drops to zero because nothing can be afforded then what? Ultimately anything that empowers government control is not good for us. A trade war is not good for anyone. The only realistic solution is to make the USA attractive to manufacture goods here.
The global free trade consortium (NAFTA, GATT, WTO) want equilibrium in the system, they want China to be equal to us. China is a culture that has been around for thousands of years (we are only pushing about 250 years). The Chinese are strategic. They created a honey pot of cheap labor with no regulations and relied on our short term greed and stupidity to transfer our manufacturing/technology base over to them, all in the name of profit.
Now that the inevitable outcome to decades of us strip-mining our economy for profit has finally started to play out for the average American, the guys that executed this strategy don’t care. They will just move over to Asia and begin milking that future consumer market. If America is to rebound, the free-market types need to appreciate that not everything is tied to “more and more” profit. Strategic long term viability must always be part of the decision making for a healthy economy that can be passed on to future generations. The Chinese understand this, we do not.
I am right and you are wrong! Deal with it.
You said “US per-capita disposable income has been on a fairly steady downward trajectory since China was admitted into the WTO”.
My numbers show it is going up. Your numbers do not discuss disposable income for the economy at large. Your numbers only relate to the MEDIAN of disposable income. Be careful when you say things that can’t be backed up. If you had said MEDIAN then you wouldn’t have been called out for falsehoods.
You parse like a Clinton.
The lowered price of manufactured goods has not offset lost income and higher commodity prices due to liberalized trade with Asia for the VAST MAJORTY of Americans.
Better?
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