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To: Fee
You are partially correct. India can write the state of the art software, but they do not have the wealth to equip their military with it at the scale needed to be a premier military power. China can reproduce almost any hardware the US produces, but they do not have the wealth to equip their military with it at the scale needed to be a premier military power. The reason, the capital produced in their partnership with the US mostly goes back to the US. The only way the US can decline, is they mismanage the wealth they generate.

You need to refresh your understanding of the terms "wealth" and "capital". It is obvious that the "mismanagement" is well underway, and you are totally oblivious to it. (Or perhaps you actually favor and encourage that mismanagement.)

capital: One of the four basic categories of resources, or factors of production. It includes the manufactured (or previously produced) resources used to manufacture or produce other things. Common examples of capital are the factories, buildings, trucks, tools, machinery, and equipment used by businesses in their productive pursuits. Capital's primary role in the economy is to improve the productivity of labor as it transforms the natural resources of land into wants-and-needs-satisfying goods.

WEALTH: The net ownership of material possessions and productive resources. In other words, the difference between physical and financial assets that you own and the liabilities that you owe. Wealth includes all of the tangible consumer stuff that you possess, like cars, houses, clothes, jewelry, etc.; any financial assets, like stocks, bonds, bank accounts, that you lay claim to; and your ownership of resources, including labor, capital, and natural resources. Of course, you must deduct any debts you owe.

It is painfully clear from the fundamental economic definitions of "capital" and "wealth" that India and China are creating the capital and wealth to become the military powers of the future. On the other hand, the United States is in decline, shedding its capital and wealth, AND its future National Security in the process.

209 posted on 10/16/2003 10:21:25 AM PDT by Willie Green (Go Pat Go!!!)
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To: Willie Green
Have you been looking at the US (Gross Domestic Product) GDP compared to the rest of the world? The US GDP has not been shrinking. Compare that to the stagnation in Europe and for a time decline in Russia (theirs just stablilized and may increase slowly). India and PRC have grown, but compared to ours is still very small. What is missing in your analysis is where did the profits go? You will find that a majority of the profits created by this arrangement with India and PRC went to the US corporations. If we were losing control of our capital (which happens in alot of Third World countries where the elite make money and send it to banks overseas), I would be very scared for the future of US power. In this new economical paradigm, the only thing I fear for is my children's economical opportunities. Unfortunately corporate America had weighed the cons of social tensions caused by eliminating high paying manufacturing jobs and now high paid IT jobs with the pros of huge profits they can make from NAFTA and recently outsourcing. Unfortunately they have already decided our future and both political parties have condoned it. I think in the future, US power will be maintained and at the strategic level will increase her wealth. Unfortunately at the working people level, salaries will be less and we will not be as materially well off as our parents or grandparents were.
210 posted on 10/16/2003 11:37:24 AM PDT by Fee
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