Trade War with China: Is balance of trade a real problem?

American Thinker ^ | 05/31/2019 | Richard Jack Rail

[The Antiyuppie]

“How do you account for the very low unemployment rates that we have today even BEFORE the tariffs were applied to China?”

Because taxpayers are paying a good number of people not to work or to help them exist underemployed, that’s why.

[SeekAndFind]

RE: Because taxpayers are paying a good number of people not to work or to help them exist underemployed, that’s why.

So, you are in effect saying that the low unemployment rate under Trump’s policies are not really producing the conditions that create jobs?

I look forward to you posting something similar every time someone posts a thread touting how historically low unemployment is under this administration.

[SeekAndFind]

RE: Ever since Clinton walked into the Whitehouse they’ve methodically increased the number of people they list as “no longer in the workforce” which dramatically alters the numbers of unemployed they report.

So, you are in effect saying that the low unemployment rate we are seeing now under Trump’s policies are not really producing the conditions that create jobs?

I look forward to you posting something similar every time someone posts a thread inn FR touting how historically low unemployment is under this administration.

RE: crying out for workers and finding workers who can pass a drug test and/or have the equivalent of a ninth grade education are two different things, both of which have in large measure caused by corporations no longer caring about a US workforce because for fifty years they could just ship jobs overseas where the government would make sure they had what they wanted.

I don’t understand how not being able to pass a drug test in order to find employment is the fault of China. If they can’t pass a drug test now, how are they going to find employment even if those manufacturing jobs come back?

RE: That, in turn, means people can see by the time they’re fourteen that they’re on a dead end track if they aren’t in the top 10% of the class instead of facing the fact that they’ll have to work in a manufacturing job which requires that they be clean and able to meet a minimum standard.

Even as we speak, transportation companies are crying out for truck drivers. All they require is you be punctual, responsible, healthy and drug free and they’ll train you to drive a truck. I can give you a link with the details if you wish.

This is just one of them. There are jobs right now for electricians, HVAC workers, plumbers and many other skilled tradesman. You don’t need to be a t the top 10% of your class to learn these trade.

RE: ou obviously believe Americans are mostly stupid and incapable of competing with the rest of the world when the reality is that Americans aren’t walking Tootsie Roll Pop suckers who can’t see down the road a few years in their own lives.

I’m afraid it is you who think that Americans are too stupid to learn new skills and all they’re good for are assembling toys, appliances and the like and if they can’t find jobs doing these things, they’ll be depressed and then do drugs.

I don’t believe any BS. I am still waiting for you however, to convince me that many of these manufacturing jobs from clothing to toys to appliances which have moved overseas ( not necessarily to China ) are NECESSARY to be made here in the USA, and those who can’t find jobs doing these things can’t retool and learn new skills.

Let me ask you this — we have thousands of openings for truck drivers right now. Let’s say in 10 years, self driving trucks become a reality, are you going to then complain that this technology should be banned because they will cause mass unemployment in the trucking industry?

[The Antiyuppie]

“I look forward to you posting something similar every time someone posts a thread touting how historically low unemployment is under this administration.”

Everyone reading this, excepting yourself, knows that the unemployment figures have been worth doggie dirt since Clinton’s second term. Someone unemployed goes on SSA for “nervousness”? No longer unemployed. Someone loses a 50k/yr factory job and now works in retail for 12.75/hr? Fully employed. College kid graduated and living in m+p’s basement who cant find a job? Doesn’t count (of course, these days, the kid must have a BA in Drama or is just lazy). And there is a lot of evidence that the underground economy has mushroomed.

They unemployment figures ARE, however, useful for comparative purposes and there is zero doubt that these times are infinitely better (in red states, anyway) than they were under the unnamed previous WH occupant.

[The Antiyuppie]

“Let me ask you this — we have thousands of openings for truck drivers right now. Let’s say in 10 years, self driving trucks become a reality, are you going to then complain that this technology should be banned because they will cause mass unemployment in the trucking industry?”

That will be ten years away ten years from now, too, although it is closer than net positive controlled fusion energy, which has been 20 years away for the last 60 years.

[The Antiyuppie]

“If you really believe your own BS start lobbying to send all government jobs not an elected position over seas to the lowest cost labor nation available. Then I might believe you aren’t just regurgitating BS you’ve been fed since you personally are profiting by shipping US jobs overseas and don’t give a damn about Americans other than yourself.”

Maybe we should ousource Politicians. The Chinese politicians seem to have their people’s long-term best interests in mind. Can’t say that about the US and the western part of the EU.

[Zhang Fei]

[The author is right. Trade deficits are not necessarily a problem, since the main benefit of trade is the goods and you services you get from another country.]

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Trade deficits aren’t a problem until they are. Then your currency goes down in half. That’s why most countries try to stay in rough balance. We have had a reckless policy of allowing foreign countries to run massive trade surpluses against us without acting to moderate those surpluses. When the day of reckoning comes, we could end up going through a cataclysmic financial crisis that triggers the kind of mass unrest we saw in Asia during the Asian Financial Crisis. Sticking our collective heads in the sand is no way to manage international financial flows.

This is no longer the immediate post-WWII era. Our allies’ cities are no longer bombed-out ruins and there’s no danger of them falling to Soviet subversion. And there’s no reason to baby the Chinese economy, which serves to feed and arm the People’s Liberation Army Rocket Force with hundreds of nukes aimed at our biggest cities. It’s time to make sure that our economy is bullet-proofed against external shocks.

The way we’ve racked up massive trade deficits while simultaneously creating massive budget deficits that require external financing is beyond reckless. It’s the equivalent of jamming the accelerator to the floor with a 2x4 while throwing the steering wheel out the window during a game of chicken.