Well, a couple of my offshore people are here in town blowing a big chunk of their income at Disney this week. (I think the rest has gone to US rental car companies and restaurants).
I think it was a US-based airline that brought them here.
The laptop computers they bought here are Dells - isn't that still a US company?
And, as far as R&D...well, it's pretty obvious that R&D benefits everybody (how fast is your CPU?) - regardless of whether it takes place.
However, that said, I must also stipulate that I subscribe to the philosophy of Any Rand, which suggests that one benefits society by benefiting oneself ("the virtue of greed"). And I do believe that I am personally benefiting from the arrangement.
"Well, a couple of my offshore people are here in town blowing a big chunk of their income at Disney this week. (I think the rest has gone to US rental car companies and restaurants)."
Ooooo....a whole COUPLE of people. I wonder how much contribution to the US economy there would be if both were US citizens working here? Let's see....one week vs. 1 year...
"The laptop computers they bought here are Dells - isn't that still a US company?"
For all practical purposes..no. Very little, if anything, of those computers are manufactured in the USA. The most you'll get is final assembly. If the parts don't make it in, any US final assembly plant is shut down.
"And, as far as R&D...well, it's pretty obvious that R&D benefits everybody (how fast is your CPU?) - regardless of whether it takes place."
I'm pretty sure you meant "...where it takes place." Which is partially correct. It benefits MOST the nation that the R&D is conducted in. If it's in dual-use tech (usable for both military & civilian purposes) then the host nation benefits even further. Especially if it's a dictatorship like China. It pretty much guarantees that govt's access to the technology.
"However, that said, I must also stipulate that I subscribe to the philosophy of Any Rand, which suggests that one benefits society by benefiting oneself ("the virtue of greed")."
I'd say that describes most free traders quite accurately. Any Rand was obviously a fool as well. It defies a lot of human nature. By benefiting yourself (cheap consumer goods) you may think you're benefiting society, but what you do is undermine your nation's industrial infrastructure, which inevitably is an open invitation to exploitation by a foreign enemy. It's a "penny wise, pound foolish" philosophy. I suspect there's a lot of free traders who don't have children, think they'll be dead or to senile to care by the time it happens, and thus don't care. The rest are idealists.
"And I do believe that I am personally benefiting from the arrangement."
I can respect that kind of honesty.