A Tale of Economic Dynamism from North Carolina Furniture Country

Ricochet ^ | August 27, 2019 | James Pethokoukis

[2ndDivisionVet]

This would be a terrible time for American to reject dynamism, that churning of jobs and firms that marks a vigorous economy where creative destruction is happening apace. Even with big economic policy actions in recent years, this still seems to be an economy where potential growth is around 2%. The Atlanta Fed describes a healthy, dynamic economy thusly:

In a dynamic economy, firms are constantly opening and closing, with workers churning among them. In a dynamic economy, entrepreneurs and innovators are incessantly commercializing new ideas and business models, keeping established firms on their toes, and pushing the economy to evolve and advance. … Like a living being, the economy needs circulation — churn — in order to remain healthy. It needs its old or damaged cells to be broken down and their raw materials recycled. It needs to develop new resiliencies when exposed to the contagion of a recession or technology-driven disruption. And it must be able to constantly adapt to changes in its environment in order to survive. Dynamism powers all of this.

Of course, dynamism comes with a cost. Disruption can be unsettling, even in an economy where jobs are plentiful. Indeed, there’s a deep anti-dynamism strain within right-left populism that focuses on costs rather than benefits. In his new book, The Conservative Sensibility , George Will writes of his fear that Americans “might be entering what we be called the Great Flinch, a reaction against the uncertainties and other stresses inherent in dynamism.”

[FreedomPoster]

Knew a guy in the early 2000s who was buying up the equipment from those closed furniture plants and shipping it off to China.

[moovova]

“It needs its old or damaged cells to be broken down and their raw materials recycled.”

President Trump is our National Lysosome!

[grey_whiskers]

What I want to know is, when do we start breaking down the old damaged cells like George Will, Bill Kristol, and the Cucks at National Review (except VDH) and eliminate their toxic moral and intellectual waste altogether rather than recycling it?

Ditto Howard Zinn, and all the long marchers.

[Oorang]

Not surprised. Years ago I purchased a Flexsteel sofa; made in the USA, great furniture. A couple of years ago went to buy a new Flexsteel sofa and recliner. Website says “Make in USA”, salesperson says “top of the line”. Within two years the recliner has needed repair twice and you turn the furniture over and there are “Made in China” tags. Bottom line...don’t trust what the website or salesperson says.

[riri]

I actually bought my dining room table in furniture country in North Carolina (High Point?). It was made in China, like everything else I looked at that day. It wasn't cheap either. For the most part it has lasted, a few of the slats in the chair had to be re-affixed.

To make matters worse, we stopped and had the worst Mexican food ever on the way back home to Holly Springs.

I have another set, smaller, that I got hand made in Germany. That thing is 100% quality.

[WashingtonSource]

James Pethokoukis is a bit of an ideologue. While dynamic destruction is a positive usually and free trade brings benefits. They don’t work when you have predatory members of the trading community like China who don’t play by the rules. There are also strategic reasons for nations to hold out to a substantial piece of their basic industries, even if it requires favorable policies to do so.