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To: cp124
The Fed's low interest rates and Bush's tax cuts cannot bridge the difference between wages and salaries in the United States versus those in China and India.

This is the crux of the problem. Tax cuts cannot stimulate the spending of jobless Americans. They don't earn so they don't pay taxes.

The problem is the export of jobs in huge numbers. The price of goods cannot fall enough for the jobless to buy them. Even if everything costs a nickel, you have to HAVE a nickel.

9 posted on 07/13/2003 7:45:20 AM PDT by NoControllingLegalAuthority
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To: NoControllingLegalAuthority
"the problem is the export of jobs in huge numbers"

And the underlying cause of this is a world oversupply of labor. Fact is, there are billions of people in the third world who are willing to work for dirt-low wages. As long as this is true, companies will find ways to exploit this and cut production costs. As much as I dislike this, I'm not sure I see any solution.

In the long run, we may see the reverse problem: a worldwide undersupply of labor. As the third world develops and their birthrates collapse (as has happened in the West and the Pacific Rim), there will be a global upsurge in labor costs. But this may take decades. In the meantime, those who rely on the sale of their labor (as opposed to those who live off of the earnings of capital investments) will see their standard of living plunge as they compete with Chinese coolies and Latin American peasants in a glutted labor market.

18 posted on 07/13/2003 8:00:34 AM PDT by quebecois
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To: NoControllingLegalAuthority
The Fed's low interest rates and Bush's tax cuts cannot bridge the difference between wages and salaries in the United States versus those in China and India.

A good start would be to lower the dollar so we can compete with China and India. Fiat money, anyone? The manufacturers like it nice and high..it gives them every advantage and the American worker every disadvantage.
149 posted on 07/13/2003 10:45:31 PM PDT by ETERNAL WARMING
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