Stock prices are not the primary measure of the total strength of the US economy. The US is by and far the world leader in technology R&D, product development, sales, distribution and licensing.
Airlines are service businesses, and the conversation I was in was around manufacturing businesses. Does China have a competitor to Boeing and Lockheed?
Detroit has been hurting for a long time, and quite honestly, got what it deserved. In general, most automobile manufacturers are not doing too well worldwide except for a select one or two in each section of the world. I predict the major consolidation will continue (i.e. Ford buying Volvo, GM buying Saab, Daimler buying Chrysler) with a Toyota-GM merge in the cards.
This is all part of business...only the strong survive.
But they are A primary measure. A business produces something or provides a service to make a profit. The larger the profit, the more attractive the stock of the company. The stock market is a discounting mechanism. A steady or dropping stock price is not indicative of future growth. To squeeze more profits out of the same revenues, technology companies are outsourcing to China and India. I work in the tech industry and I have seen it at dozens of customers.
Airlines are service businesses, and the conversation I was in was around manufacturing businesses. Does China have a competitor to Boeing and Lockheed?
Is Boeing all by itself going to counter the job losses or revenue losses of other manufacturing moving to China ? The argument you were having with oceanview was this....
oceanview:the US economy is drivien down to only service jobs, government jobs, lawyers, real estate agents, and corporate executives
you:Please, do not insult us with such nonsense. Technology driven business, logistics driven business, transportation business, etc, PLUS all the infrastructure support required for those businesses, will all remain strong.
My argument is with the tech industry offshoring and laying off workers and the other manufacturing businesses you mentioned declining (accept Boeing of course), where are the new jobs going to come from ? You asked oceanview not to insult us but his argument was right on.... the top job growth positions the past few years have been real estate, government, and retail service. Here is the government's own projections on top job growth positions between 2002 and 2012:
Registered nurses
Postsecondary teachers
Retail salespersons
Customer service representatives
Combined food preparation and serving workers
Cashiers, except gaming
Janitors and cleanersGeneral and operations managers
Waiters and waitresses
Nursing aides, orderlies, and attendants
Where are all of these upper level manufacturing jobs you are talking about ? If we do not push China to revalue their currency now, they will suck us even drier and then revalue when it best suits them. We need to clean up our own house in addition by promoting and rewarding savings in this country. We are a country living on debt now. Debt is a means to the illusion of wealth but it will not build long term wealth for us as a nation.