Posted on 02/07/2017 4:56:55 AM PST by Tolerance Sucks Rocks
Alberta’s Child sports a Venezuelan flag on his about page. LOL
You will probably find that almost every durable product that Americans take for granted in their daily lives (washing machines, computers, TVs, etc.) is sold in larger quantities in China simply because of this underlying factor.
LOL. I’ve tangled with you plenty of times here on FreeRepublic, but I have to give you kudos because you’re the first person who noticed that and posted about it.
One thing that jumped out at me is that the largest value in that table -- which is the following category:
(30230) Other parts and accessories of vehicles ... $21.6 billion
This seems to suggest that even auto manufacturers that have "moved from the U.S. to Mexico" are still importing huge quantities of parts and components from the U.S.
Yes, US parts manufacturers (including the one 1rudeboy works for) export lots of parts to US auto manufacturers in Mexico.
Re Losers and winners in trade competition, you gave the example of “a million people get cheaper cars, but a thousand need to get new jobs.”
An extreme case, and an apt one when considering buggy whips, or likely even textiles.
But, I still maintain that end-user price should not be considered the be-all and end-all of costs to the economy of the country that loses its prior industry. Some of the social costs are thrown on the rest of us, and they should be part of the trade calculation.
Another part of it is strategic abuse by a country that is willing to underpay its workers in order to capture an industry that is strategic to it. I’m thinking of China here. In the short term, we get the low prices; in the long term, we lose the ability to make things, and the prices go up. These sorts of strategic issues are the focus of the Federal Trade Commission when they are domestic, but seem to often be ignored internationally.
The theory of comparative advantage is straightforward, but there may be other considerations. In economics, there’s a big interest in the results of sequential decisions, game theory. I think it comes into play here as well.
“My understanding that “goods” would include any physical commodity that fits into the standard commodity classification codes — including manufactured products, raw materials, etc. I say this because trade figures generally list “goods” insofar as they are distinct from “services.” “
Ok. I just asked because imho, exporting a manufactured good is more desirable than an unmanufactured commodity.
So, Ex.: If we’re shipping coal to Mexico and they’re shipping us cars, and we’re STILL running a deficit...that’s very bad for the USA.
” So this is one industry that actually turns the whole “manufacturing is going to Mexico” argument on its head. The U.S. imports a raw material from Mexico and sells back a finished product! “
Right and that’s good for the USA.
The one caveat is:
While I DO see auto, television, air conditioning, etc, plants popping up all over Mexico creating great jobs there...I don’t really see any refineries popping up here creating an economic recovery. Again I don’t even think it’s legal to build a refinery here.
Are you suggesting the Ford, Carrier, GM, et al have NOT moved some production to Mexico?
“Not at all.”
Ok. So they have moved production to Mexico, and my point remains: That is bad.
Are you suggesting that other companies didn’t build new production facilities in the U.S. since 1994? In the auto industry alone there must be dozens of new plants that have been built in the U.S. since then — mostly by foreign manufacturers like Daimler-Benz, BMW, Hyundai, Volkswagen, Kia etc.”
Not at all, but I don’t see your point of your posts at all.
You seem to believe that while we’ve gone from a surplus to a deficit with Mexico, that’s all ok because exports are up.
Well, that may be true, but jobs are down. 95 million not working, 50 million on foodstamps.
We were much better off in ‘94 when we had a surplus.
As to the plants being built here, that’s great! We need more of that, from foreigners and domestic.
But what has that got to do with our plants leaving and trade deficit with Mexico?
Thank you for he link:
This is what stuck out at me:
(11200) Gas-natural
18,147 2006
275,824
472,225
326,018
1,049,795
1,754,633
1,587,745
2,181,771
2,877,403
2,175,596 2015
Quite the increase, while cars have decreased.
If somebody says, "If you believe this you're a Luddite" most people will say, "Fine, I'm a Luddite (whatever that is)."
The name calling is designed more to make the guy who wrote the article feel good about himself.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.