This is all nonsense. Comparative exchange rates are a market symptom and the drop in the dollar reflects declining demand for our products, services and currency with respect to our own demand to import the same from abroad. That an imbalance has existed is not a positive reflection on our economy.
My biggest gripe about American products is not cost, but the really junky quality, from prepared food, to daily table wine, to kitchen ware, to consumer electronics to passenger automobiles, a market that Detroit as for all intents abandoned. I often make decisions to pay much higher prices for imported goods because I believe they are of higher quality.
The only thing that I buy that is made in America is fresh food and computer equipment, and even then, scanners, etc. are Japanese.
The problem is that Americans long ago lost the talent for designing and producing products that: a. meet the needs for which they were designed b. are of a quality that they don't rust, bend or break in normal expected usage, c. are attractive in appearance d. provide any sort aesthetic enjoyment, such as having attractive lines, pleasing colors or pleasant and appealing taste. e. If food, tastes good.
I even find myself buying French butter because it tastes a whole lot better.
Apples - good old red delicious have been bred to the point that they are mushy and tasteless and our supermarkets now feature fuji and gala apples from New Zealand among others. When we are not even self-sufficient in apples we have taken a leap off of a high bridge with nothing but rocks underneath.
Ever compare Idaho lamb (so they call it, but I swear it is mutton) to New Zealand lamb. Not even close. My supermarket does not even bother trying to carry the former any more.
I was reading an article in the WSJ today that 90% of ‘new money’ being put into Mutual Funds are going into International Funds. Only 10% Domestic. 5 years ago it was reversed. Basically, it was saying that Americans putting money into overseas companies are one of the main reasons for the dollars decline.
I was reading an article in the WSJ today that 90% of ‘new money’ being put into Mutual Funds are going into International Funds. Only 10% Domestic. 5 years ago it was reversed. Basically, it was saying that Americans putting money into overseas companies are one of the main reasons for the dollars decline.
Only about 5% of the apples sold here are from New Zealand. Get real. The great majority of our produce is grown domestically. About the only time it’s not is if it’s a crop that is out of season here.
I thought that West Texas raised a large number of lambs. Maybe they’d taste better than Idaho lamb?
“The problem is that Americans long ago lost the talent for designing and producing products that: a. meet the needs for which they were designed b. are of a quality that they don’t rust, bend or break in normal expected usage, c. are attractive in appearance d. provide any sort aesthetic enjoyment, such as having attractive lines, pleasing colors or pleasant and appealing taste. e. If food, tastes good.”
We still have the talent. We just have too many Harvard MBA’s and Bill Gates types that prefer to use cheap overseas “talent”. The most useless degree available unless you already know how to make something. Most MBA’s dont’t even know how a screw driver works, unless your talking about drinking. Flame away.
Before I hurl myself over a cliff with a gun pointed at my head and a mouthful of rat poison, is there anything....ANYTHING that America does right anymore?