Correct. It's shameful that we only made $3 trillion worth of stuff last year.
Posted on 03/19/2006 5:54:24 AM PST by B4Ranch
I've posted this response before and now post it again:
What is being missed in all of this is the fact that we have lost our industrial base and are now dependent on foreign manufacturers and business for a huge majority of all materials we use in our daily life.
What's worse, our DEFENSE SYSTEM utilizes military parts and equipment purchased "sole source" from many foreign points.
Now the point: When WWII started, due to our huge and powerful manufacturing base, we were able to IMMEDIATELY shift our private manufacturing facilities into manufacturers of military equipment and machinery. Our military power and strength arose from our industrial base. That's how we won the war.
Now, for all practical purposes, we don't have a strong industrial manufacturing base. Crucial parts used in almost everything military come from other countries, foreign designers or inventors. Some of these, who in the future, may become our enemy and actually attack us. Some may be put out of business by the takeover of their own industries by invasion, or political change, and cease sales and support of those products and services we did not originate from our own shores.
THEN, when and how are we to mobilize our industry as in WWII? The answer is simple...WE CAN'T! We don't have it any more!
Our prosperity was developed by having huge internal market which the constitution protected from internal tarrifs. It does not have to be manufacturing. If you want to be even richer, foreign trade (similarily stripped of artificial barriers) is the growth opportunity, but it will only flourish if other people have some money. Mercantilist trade policies which insisted on positive balances resulted in 80% of the wealth concentrated in the West.
The rest of the world wants some prosperity. Your choice is to have them as trading partners or see them move in next door to you.
I've read your post before. Agreed with it then and agree with it now.
How about these facts?
Clearly we are coasting on the gains made during WWII and before. Any economic security we had gained with our manufacturing and technological competitiveness are being bargained away. We used to employ people here to make things that we or the rest of the world consumed. That was at our zenith. Now we may be feeling fine as we stroll into Walmart, but the good feelings won't last.
Debt, foreign-dependence, manufacturing impotence, and inability to provide secure jobs to technology and other skilled workers are all consequences of these changes. Yet there are many libertarians and other shills for big business (now largely foreign-owned) that continue to line up on FR and tout our decline.
Big, foreign-owned business, has a direct line to our political engines, and they're consuming the wealth and advantages earned with the blood of our veterans during the last 240 years and longer. Superficially things look fine to those who are wealthy and successful, but the rest of America knows better.
I would find it amusing that so many on FR continue to advocate "free" trade (at the cost of our seed corn) and "open immigration," except our once-proud country is being sold down the river. It's a travesty.
And meanwhile, we're replacing our strong and united North American culture with millions of Latin Americans, Africans, Asians, and Mid-easterners every year.
Of course those same libertarian FReepers are ready to line up and defend the obliteration of our American culture, as well. They seem to think that the new "mall culture" where everyone can stroll down a facade and buy in English or Spanish is a sure sign of immigration's successful assimilation.
At present rates of replacement, it is traditional America that will be assimilated into chaos, not the other way around. Either way, it's all for sale to the highest, and often foreign bidder.
So enjoy it while it lasts!
It is always changing. If you keep waching your rear view mirror, you are sure to have a wreck.
The path of least resistance.
*BUMP*!
a few interesting statistics:
The U.S. borrows more than $2 billion per day from foreigners to finance its huge trade deficits.
Foreigners already own half of the U.S. government's publicly traded debt. Currently $2.19 trillion in Treasury securities were in the hands of central banks, including China and Japan, and private investors abroad.
Total foreign direct investment in this country actual factories, office buildings and other tangible assets as opposed to stocks and bonds came to $1.53 trillion, 8.2 percent more than in 2003.
European nations accounted for $977 billion, or two-thirds, of the $1.53 trillion of foreign direct investment
Arab countries in the Middle East accounted for $9.3 billion, led by $4.7 billion in investment from Saudi Arabia. The United Arab Emirates was second among Middle East Arab countries with $1.8 billion in investments, according to the data.
Nearly one in five U.S. oil refineries is owned by foreign companies. Foreign companies also have a sizable presence in running power plants, chemical factories and water treatment facilities in the United States.
Bump
Treason bump!
This is not correct. "to finance its huge trade deficits." While it is said that money earned in trade is invested in treasuries, the trade deficit is not the same as the federal debt. Foreign investment is a testament to how desirable our business climate is and is a bemnefit to America. It allows us to leverage our money.
There are 300,000 manufacturing companies in the US, dumkopf. But, I'll bet you do not and never have owned one of them.
That has always been the view through shit colored glasses. Some have always bemoaned the half-life of science and engineering as some people are rendered irrelevant by rapid progress when they fail to keep up. My son, the software programmer, consequently, has little sympathy for his uncle the system consultant who does mainframe data bases which is declining. The fact is that they are both working now and making very good money. That is the problem with those who try to policize the lifes of others that they know nothing about. Watching soap operas and bemoaning the fates of imaginary people is about as useful.
Correct. It's shameful that we only made $3 trillion worth of stuff last year.
I give up! I cannot believe that this graph answers all!
What types of products? What was the cost of doing business in 1990 vs 2006? Just what does this gross amount mean? Are the businesses surveyed and represented in this graph industries that manufacture durable goods, foods, clothing, steel, aluminum, etc...
The big question is: Are these companies manufacturing or assembling? Are their products made from raw materials or simply parts from other countries shipped into this country so that a "made in America" or "assembled in America" tag can be attached to the completed unit?
Simply showing a graph with a gross figure is nothing more than manipulated numbers to make something look good or bad.
I've been in the manufacturing business since 1979 and always get a chuckle when I talk to a salesman. In every case they always throw out GROSS sales figures and have almost no understanding what GROSS PROFIT is. Worse yet, they have absolutely no conception of what NET PROFIT is!
Did this graph take in consideration that in 1990 the cost of doing business was substantially lower than it is today? Did it also take in consideration that gross sales are increased to maintain gross profit due to increased costs of operation?
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