Posted on 06/23/2002 3:28:18 AM PDT by sarcasm
Edited on 04/13/2004 2:40:25 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
Cars from Japan, wine from France, clothing from China -- for years, the United States has been running up its credit card balance, buying far more from the rest of the world than it sells.
In April, America's trade gap with the rest of the world climbed to $35.9 billion, the highest on record, the Commerce Department reported last week.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Outside of defense, airplanes, computers (?) and agriculture, there is not much left to export.
US companies through our financial markets will also find it difficult to obtain the capital to rebuild the manufacturing base that will let them compete. In many industries, our machinery and equipment are at least two, in not three, generations behind our competitors.
Trying to compete with out-moded equipment and high cost labor is a difficult task.
Does your trade deficit with your dentist matter?
ahhh, don't look now, but we've been running large merchandise trade deficits for over 30 years
Record trade deficits will decrease our standard of living
funny, our standard of living has been steadily increasing for the entire 30 year period, '90s included, over all income quintiles
if you want the details, i'll look up the links to the extensive statistics i posted proving this fact to a raving buchananite who used to rant about our "falling standard of living", but no longer does
u.s. trade deficits are an indication of demand for goods by u.s. consumers, and have largely coincided with u.s. growth, as they are in part a byproduct of it
the u.s. trade deficit will continue to temporarily increase in spite of the dollar's recent decline, as consumption patterns change more slowly than relative currency values, and about 10% more dollars are now required to buy the same amount of foreign goods versus 3 or 4 months ago
eventually, continued dollar weakness will reduce the u.s. trade deficit
all of which means precisely nothing, just as the trade balance between florida and georgia means nothing
Would make a great place to spend your vacation from reality.
At the rate they've got us goin', won't belong until 1/2 the nation's families will be livin' out of junk cars in the WalChina-Mart parkinglot, waitin' for their 'check'
Welcome to the USSA Pres Bush ... not that YOU and YOURS will ever feel the change.
Our standard of living has improved primarily due to improvements in technology (i.e., medical-care technology, Internet, personal computers), on the downside our standard of living has declined as of 911 because of our "open borders" policiy.
Record trade deficits will decrease our standard of living
is now inoperative, as you apparently now agree with me -
Our standard of living has improved
although -
primarily due to improvements in technology
is really a statement about increasing productivity, which is the only thing that can improve standards of living over time
however -
on the downside our standard of living has declined as of 911 because of our "open borders" policiy
is unsupported by the facts and just plain nonsensical
if you're thinking about economics as a profession, don't quit your day job just yet
meanwhile, all you have demonstrated is that snide cracks remain the last refuge of those who can't make, or know they will lose, the argument
if you're thinking about economics as a profession, don't quit your day job just yet
Hmmm, let's say we triple defense spending this year, that would greatly incresae the GDP.
According to simple economic statistics this would greatly increase productivity.
Would you claim that this will increase the standard of living?
if you're thinking about economics as a profession, don't quit your day job just yet.
According to simple economic statistics [sic] this would greatly increase productivity.
the only thing that is simple here is you
the absolute level of production of anything, defense goods or otherwise, says precisely nothing about efficiency of production
simple economic theory, somethng you obviously have no grasp of whatever, in fact holds that a sudden tripling of defense spending (or any other type of spending) would probably result in waste and inefficiency, reducing overall productivity
if you're thinking about economics as a profession, don't quit your day job just yet
the next time you embarrass yourself, you might at least try to make some pretense of being original
the next time you embarrass yourself, you might at least try to make some pretense of being original
Productivity is directly related to GDP, including defense spending.
the next time you embarrass yourself, you might at least try to make some pretense of being original
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