Posted on 01/29/2003 2:06:28 PM PST by ex-snook
Edited on 04/13/2004 2:16:35 AM PDT by Jim Robinson. [history]
True enough. But the government does not need tax revenues, they borrow and leave it for the next generation to pay. And by that time those in government are long dead but have been re-elected many times. Have you noticed there is little pay-as-you-go talk for the Iraq buildup for war?
Glad you got back. Good observation. We should have only one trade policy - WE BUY FROM YOU - YOU BUY FROM US.
You've said a lot there, whether you know it or not. US regulations, EEOC, OSHA, EPA, and the like have choked industry out of the country. Trial lawyers have helped. Between the regulations and trial lawyers, there is probably a business expense that exceeds the cost of wages for American workers.
Inept, non-scientific regulations and greedy, non-productive lawyers have taken a huge toll on this country. Perhaps by design.
No joke, but the official "poverty line" in Manhattan for a family of 4 is ~$75,000.
For a benchmark, the *maintenance* on my ~3,000 sq. ft. apt is close to $4,000. A month. Not including a mortgage.
That'll likely happen, though not forced. When they demand consumer luxuries, who'll design, make and market them? There'll be work down the road, but you have to be flexible.
Here is just something to think on...
We don't have free access, nor fair deals, nor any type of thing resembling "trade" with countries like China. We buy a bunch of cheap stuff from them in a glorified purchasing agreement, and every corporate goof thinks is sooo great, but we end up with a HUGE deficit that won't close.
Here is how we should proceed IMO. We should sign free trade agreements with several countries, including labor clauses. We should sign the agreements with countries who have already developed markets, and have been long standing traditional allies of the US. We should NOT have free trade with the world.
Free trade means FAIR trade. Its not a they sell to us, but we can't sell to them kind of deal.
As those FTAs (say with Australia, Mexico, etc) get into place we should raise our across the board tarriffs to about 3-5 times their current level.
That will allow businesses choice, and at the same time, funnel the investment into and through our FTAs (where we have access AND development, which equates to sales opportunities)
As it stands right now for every dollar we import worth of goods or services from Mexico we have about a 75cents export opportunity. With China, for every dollar we import we have about a 15 cents export opportunity. Out of those two, which one is a better overall investment opportunity? In Mexico all we really need to do is ensure that they get manufacturing facilities and we automatically grow our exports. Not so in China. There is no evidence that China will ever represent that 75 cents on the dollar that Mexico represents.
If you compare China to Mexico though, China is cheaper, but does not represent even a fraction of Mexico's market. Hence we can derive that China is nothing more than a parasite who sucks resources from our otherwise strong FTA(s). Mexico would represent a big savings, but China undercuts them in pricing. (Which I have to add, that never gets passed on to the consumer or shareholders).
I can hear the corporate hacks now trying to defend their China investments "But the Chinese are hungry and poor and developing nation..."
They will all of the sudden shift into their 'social responsibility' mode, which they reject most of the time, except for under my idea in #47.
I still think WE BUY FROM YOU - YOU BUY FROM US - can be a part of our trade agreements (not forced, but agreed to). BTW a 3000 ft apt in NYC seems quite 'ample'. I hope you have a rent-conrolled deal!
Righto. The brain washing crowd are into high gear. There is no way our trade inbalance can be justified.
$37K in central Illinois for a family of 4 isn't great, but I wouldn't call it poverty either.
This is so true. Just knowing a programming language is a fairly mundane skill these days. Knowing how to improve a business through IT is worth much more.
There was a day when just knowing how to use a pc was worth a decent salary; we're past that. And very nearly past the time when knowing a programming language means anything.
We have to keep moving up the ladder. I agree that knowing how to improve the business through IT is the next step up.
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