[Willie Green]

ping

[sarcasm]

The thrust of Samuelson's analysis is that a country like China, basically a low-wage economy, will create a net negative impact on the American people, when it manages a substantial rise in productivity in an industry in which the United States was earlier a leader. Initially, American consumers may benefit from low-priced goods in their supermarket chains, but their gains may be more than neutralised by large losses sustained by American workers who lose their jobs.

Where have I heard that before?

[the invisib1e hand]

samuelson is no smith, no von mises.

[The_Republican]

337,000

[the invisib1e hand]

whole lotta flip-floppin' goin' on up there in along the chahles.

[RustysGirl]

"American workers need a much stronger and a viable safety net, on the lines of their European counterparts or even those in Canada, the immediate northern neighbour."

Grover Norquist would stroke out!

[arthurus]

Samuelson is a Keynesian anđ thus a tinkerer . Immutable principles are, for such "economists," subject to change to suit the desired politics.

[zb42]

At 89 <----------[ Methinks all Mr. Bhagwati need do, is to start his riposte thusly... ]

[Jaysun]

The thrust of Samuelson's analysis is that a country like China, basically a low-wage economy, will create a net negative impact on the American people, when it manages a substantial rise in productivity in an industry in which the United States was earlier a leader. Initially, American consumers may benefit from low-priced goods in their supermarket chains, but their gains may be more than neutralised by large losses sustained by American workers who lose their jobs.

This is a strange theory. What industries is he talking about? The telemarketing industry? The industry responsible for producing goods for the "Dollar Store"? Can anyone think of an industry that we are presently the most productive in, but that also has seen widespread movement to foreign countries?

[gcruse]

American workers need a much stronger and a viable safety net, on the lines of their European counterparts

Europe is trying to dig out of that hole right now.  There's something human and ironic about latching onto failure just as others are reaping its downside.  As for me, I try to learn from the mistakes of others as I've found that  life is too short to make every mistake for myself.

[NoControllingLegalAuthority]

Initially, American consumers may benefit from low-priced goods in their supermarket chains, but their gains may be more than neutralised by large losses sustained by American workers who lose their jobs.

Where have I heard that? Oh wait...I posted that myself. When do I get my award in economics?

Wal-Mart buys everything from China to give American consumers the lowest prices until every American is unemployed and can't even buy a hot dog. Everything at Wal-Mart eventually costs a nickel and no American has a nickel to spend.

[A. Pole]

The thrust of Samuelson's analysis is that a country like China, basically a low-wage economy, will create a net negative impact on the American people, when it manages a substantial rise in productivity in an industry in which the United States was earlier a leader.

USA is also being drained by the high wage economies which shifted their taxation to the Value Added Tax. This tax works like a tarrif on the imports from America and like a subsidy on exports. The impact of VAT might be higher than labor cost difference or cost of regulations.

USA need a national economical policy in order to avoid the fate of Argentina.

[mlocher]

Most of us who have worked in this country's corporate sector and interacted with Japanese companies will vouchsafe for the enormous clout of these organisations and the seamless interlinking between the much-vaunted MITI and Japan's private business.

japan inc has had more than its share of problems. they export but refuse to buy imports. in the 80s this surplus of cash drove real estate sky high, and then everything came crashing down. japanese isolationism (more adequately put: exportationism) literally makes the japenese slaves of others: they work like hell, but because they don't buy imports, they do not reap the benefits of their wages.

miti and japan's private businesses do have enourmous clout. too bad they are not using this clout to solve their economic problems.

[Ed_in_NJ]

If Samuelson checked in here on a regular basis, he could have found this out a couple of years ago.

Wonder if he is a lurker, and got it here.

[UnbelievingScumOnTheOtherSide]

. There is now sufficient evidence (and semi-official admission) that Japan was a major protectionist country throughout its period of growth in the 1960s and much later on.

No doubt. And what did it get them? Poorer consumers and a hyperinflated real estate and stock market that went bust and took all that money with it. What a model for China to emulate.

What do we get? Essentially a slave labor force and debt that we will never have to repay because they will lose it all in their greed to hang onto it.

[FR_addict]

Thanks for the post.

I'm go glad Bush won. Defense is the primary function of the federal government and there is no way an anti-American like Kerry should be commander-in-chief of America's military.

Now, its time to fight this head-in-the-sand attitude on the globilization of the economy.

Put America first!

[JerseyHighlander]

Bump for later.

[dennisw]

Good find. GW will be pushing a POS known as the Free Trade of the Americas treaty

[raybbr]

Samuelson, at the age of 89, is signalling to his disciples that they should think about the real world rather than `postulate assumptions and develop elegant models which ultimately are irrelevant'.

It's the same thing I have been saying all along. The "free trade" theory is just that; a theory that has never been tried or proven.

[Henchman]

I always liked Milton Friedman from the Chicago school of economics better. When Clinton signed NAFTA into law, I knew free trade sucked.