A Bankrupt Superpower: The Collapse Of American Power

Intelligence Daily ^ | March 19, 2008 | By Paul Craig Roberts

[1rudeboy]

My guess is, if you actually visited the Heritage website, your head would explode. But that’s ok, if someone posts something from a lib website, we need to accept it as truth and debate it.

[palmer]

Many are rethinking their stand on cheap goods.

And that is good. There's only so many $49 DVD players that people can put out at the curb before they get the idea. BTW, you might be interested in this thread, it was before your time http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/599498/posts?page=158#158

[american colleen]

You aren’t talking about the Heritage Foundation mag, are you?

[1rudeboy]

Conservatively, I’d say 80% of the econ statistics I post on this website are from Heritage. And it’s funny to see the reactions.

[american colleen]

I'm surprised because when I was looking at Heritage the other day and reading their writings on NAFTA and why conservatives should back it, most of what they wrote NAFTA was going to be hasn't come to pass. Also, they are another faction that supports Smoot-Hawley as being responsible for the Depression and I'd thought Friedman pretty handily decimated that view back in the '60s or so (can't remember the name of the book he wrote on the causes/aggravation of the Depression but I think it may have been written in the 60s).

I liked a lot of what Heritage has on the site though, but those two things I mentioned above really disappointed me because I expect more of a conservative site in the way of facts.

[1rudeboy]

You and I must be reading a different Heritage.

[sit-rep]

People like you are the reason this “Free Trade” was not stopped years ago...

[1rudeboy]

Well, you can’t just line up people who believe in liberty against a wall and shoot them.

[palmer]

I've taken my own steps over the years to stop it (see link in 262). I've made considerable efforts to buy American, union or otherwise. Last 4 cars were saturns and a Jeep. Shoes always American and clothes when I can find them. Few imported gadgets (no TV, DVD, etc). My woodstove is made in Virginia and burns wood made in Virginia.

What I don't support is federal political or bureaucratic mandates telling other people what to do.

[palmer]

My guns and ammo are all American made.

[sit-rep]

why would I want to do that?

[1rudeboy]

Oh, I don’t know, I just cracked-up when I saw the comment beginning with “people like you.” Funnier than “there oughta be a law.”

[sit-rep]

Dude, back in the day you would be amazed at how many times I heard that old line...

"Oh, Gatt/Nafta is going to be great! We will raise the economies of third world countries and their citizens will become wealthy enough to buy from us!!! Can you imagine what opening our markets to billions of people will do for our economy...blah, blah, blah...

These countries have our manufacturing base now... What do they need from us that they cannot design and build for their own?

The stock market made a lot of people rich in the 90's. I hope they saved their money because it will never be made like this again. Unless of course they invest it in foreign markets who are buying up American assets...

"People like you" sums it up quite nicely when talking about duping the masses and getting away with it...

[1rudeboy]

What do they need from us that they cannot design and build for their own?

Oh, only about $1 trillion worth of stuff. From that allegedly devastated manufacturing base of ours.

[petercooper]

The stock market made a lot of people rich in the 90's. I hope they saved their money because it will never be made like this again. Unless of course they invest it in foreign markets who are buying up American assets...

Half of the profits for S&P 500 companies are derived from business done overseas. Stick your cash in your mattress. I'll continue to make 9% a yr in the mkt which is the avg the last 100yrs or so

[petercooper]

These countries have our manufacturing base now...

Same Number of Workers, 4.5X as Much Output

Both series (jobs and output) in the above chart are indexes equal to 100 in 1960. With roughly the same number of U.S. employees in manufacturing as in 1960, the U.S. economy produced almost 4.5 times as much manufacturing output in 2007 as in 1960! It's an often unappreciated, but amazing record of increases in American worker productivity in manufacturing.

http://mjperry.blogspot.com/2008/03/same-number-of-workers-45x-as-much.html

[sit-rep]

Good for you... I hope you remain a wealthy man....

Sitting on the top marveling at your choices to bring you fortune, and never contemplating the other side of that silver coin...

As the old verbage goes, throughout history, society’s/cultures have been the cause of their own demise. Why change things now?...

[sit-rep]

Sorry, when I see the trade deficits that I see today, and yesterday, and forcasted futures, and the latest National Debt figures, I cannot grasp your defense.

I am not an educated man, but I do have some common sense, and when numbers add up to what I see, I know I would not run my business like this...

[1rudeboy]

You cannot grasp the defense because you are being completely illogical. You see some plastic lawn furniture at Wal-Mart that is made in China, and conclude that nothing is made in the United States. Then, you start wondering about the national debt and you get even more confused. One has nothing to do with the other.

[sit-rep]

Ya pete, thats Great!!

Now, why don’t we show the amount of overseas parts coming in to boost these figures. Lets look at who owns these companies. Let’s have a break down on this glamorous Industrial Output and show how much of this is American versus foreign owned corporations...