[sarcasm]

ping

[Dane]

In the other corner, we have South Carolina Sen. Fritz Hollings. In his retirement speech last month, he reprised his famous skepticism about expanding trade to the detriment of American factory jobs. With harder times, he should be receiving a more careful hearing.

Hollings recalled how former Sony Chairman Akio Morita equated developing a strong manufacturing capability to becoming a nation-state. Morita "pointed and said to me about the United States: 'That world power that loses its manufacturing capacity will cease to be a world power.' "

Sheesh sars, going down to the level of printing an article from a liberal newspaper, that praises Fritz Hollings.

Yunz gloom and doomers are desperate.

Oh BTW, just a question, has Japan taken over the world yet?

[tkathy]

Really scarey. Our govt is full of out of touch millionaires.

[Cobra64]

"That world power that loses its manufacturing capacity will cease to be a world power."

I tend to agree.

[Mr. Mojo]

Morita ....said to me about the United States: 'That world power that loses its manufacturing capacity will cease to be a world power.'

Morita is right; is anyone listening?

[Nachoman]

I hope Greenspan is getting paid with conceptual dollars.

[Mr. Mojo]

But how do we bolster our manufacturing sector without wrecking the world trading system?

We can't -- so let's do both.

[harpseal]

Ping on or off let me know

By the way tommorrow Monday will be a day without many pings or posts due to other commkitments.

[Mr. Mojo]

Ping

[NoControllingLegalAuthority]

A country which makes nothing IS nothing.

Greenspan is real strong on the conceptual and weak on reality. If you have no bread to eat, simply cut out a magazine photo of bread and eat that. If you have no physical job or physical paycheck, simply try to visualize those and then imagine yourself into giving your personal check to the landlord or mortgage company so they will not conceptualize you being thrown out into the street.

[Jeff Head]

The problem is that the market has become conceptual...too conceptual as far as I am concerned, as in smoke and mirrors.

On the other hand, cars, computer hardware, steel to build buildings, dams and other things with, wood for homes, fruit that we eat to feed ourselves, clothes that we wear ... all of this "stuff" is not conceptual. It is real.

[A. Pole]

The Federal Reserve chairman said, "Well, just remember that the nature of the economy is becoming increasingly conceptual, as distinct from physical . . .

Very disapointing, one would expect more insight from the leading financist. Maybe we have what we deserve.

[A. Pole]

Even more questionable is the notion that our economy can rest purely on "concepts."

Being a concept/banking center is not enough to support 300 million people. Even Switzerland export watches, cheese, chocolate and other material goods. If Mr. Greenspan thinks that his job can be typical he is dreaming.

[Ed_in_NJ]

How's this for a concept: "The American worker is being disassociated from the American economy."

The economy (i.e., the way the feds measure) can be 'doing great' (US companies get all their goods from overseas and sell globally) while the US worker gets lowballed out of employment.

[-YYZ-]

BTW, for all the Canada bashers here, I'd like to point out that we are one of your best trading partners whom you have a free trade agreement with. Canadians buy a lot of US-manufactured products. Just fr'instance, as I sit hit I'm drinking a Pepsi (made in Canada but profits go to US) with a bottle of Frank's RedHot sauce (imported from the US) sitting beside it, with book cases full of books and magazines printed in the US, CDs produced and manufactured in the US, and my Nissan Sentra was made in Smyrna, Tenessee (did I spell that right?). I work for a US company in the software industry, and I'm paid a wage which while not quite as high as in the Silicon Valley, is not inconsiderable.

Anyway, just wanted to point out an example of how free trade should work.

[bimbo]

The Federal Reserve chairman said, "Well, just remember that the nature of the economy is becoming increasingly conceptual, as distinct from physical . . .

What does Greenspan mean? ... that the economy is becoming a matter of perception, rather than reality? If he's right, we're in BIG trouble.

[Paul Ross]

Even President Bush recognized this shift when he pushed unsuccessfully for tariffs against foreign steel.

?? Uh, hey dude, what are you smoking?, those tariffs are still in place he ordered. And a good thing too. Of the 25 bankrupted steel corporations of the previous year and a half, only three are limping along under Chapter 11 reorganization. The rest have shut down permanently. Had they not been implemented by the President, we would have essentially lost our domestic integrated steel industry altogether, and for good.

[judywillow]

The Federal Reserve chairman said, "Well, just remember that the nature of the economy is becoming increasingly conceptual, as distinct from physical . . .

That isn't as difficult to comprehend as it might appear at first blush. For instance, when a human becomes conceptual as dictinct from physical, it means he died...