Posted on 04/10/2007 7:06:56 PM PDT by shrinkermd
With housing and factories weak and consumers tiring, exporters are giving the U.S. economy a boost even as trade tensions mount.
The rest of the world continues to expand at a brisk pace, fueling demand for American goods.
The Institute for Supply Management said last week that its March manufacturing exports index rose 1.5 points to 55.5, the best since November.
Though exports remain a small part of the overall U.S. economy, they have helped soften the blow from a housing slump that has pared growth in each of the past two quarters...
Yet the benefit to the U.S. economy from rising overseas sales probably will be limited, because exports compose about 10% of overall U.S. gross domestic product.
“Unlike Germany, Japan or China the export share of the U.S. economy isn’t big enough to be anything more than a cushion against our own domestic problems,” Hoffman said...
...Last year, U.S. exports grew 12.7% to $1.4 trillion, while imports rose 10.5% to $2.2 trillion. Exports of aircraft, semiconductors and machinery led the way...
(Excerpt) Read more at epaper.investors.com ...
we built too much of our economy on the real estate bubble, while allowing massive amounts of manufacturing and technology to be moved offshore.
at some point, we have to realize that we all can’t earn a living swapping real estate to each other at ever higher prices.
Does the name Smoot-Hawley ring a bell??
I’m shocked. Shocked,I tell you!
Is it not good policy to take this into account and strike a balance in policy between the employers and the employees?
Right now, the balance leans to the employer. The employer can threaten to move overseas or hire illegal immigrants, and even union shops can’t do much about it. (witness the meat packing industry.) This is probably one of the biggest things that hurt the GOP in the midwest, where it hurt the most.
I’ll even grant we need to take a look at our regulatory and taxation system.
That being said, this is actually good news! Our exports were up meaning our factories were producing more. Therefore I shall add the obligatory, Bush’s fault.
especially when it is so ridiculously important to reduce immigration to the United States
Load 16 tons and what do you get? Another day older and deeper in debt.
Very well-stated.
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