On Wed, 2004-12-08 at 10:24 -0800, shadow wrote: > On 07-Dec-04, Frank Reichert wrote: > > FR> Everyone today seems to moan about the loss of jobs, I know I do. > FR> But also the loss of American good quality products missing! Try > FR> trying something simple, like buying tire chains from reputable > FR> tire dealings... guess what? They're made in China too! > > FR> The tire chains I really bought last week were made in Norway! > FR> No one today makes pipe anymore in America. > > FR> Whose fault do you really believe this is? The Chinese? The > FR> Norweigans? Who's to blame for all of this anyway? You can blame > FR> everyone on the planet for the dismal failure of current US > FR> economic failures, but the final blame has to come down to what > FR> we have been doing to ourselves, and continue to do, over the > FR> last several decades. > > FR> That's the way it is folks. It will continue to be the 'way it is > FR> folks', until such time as we decide to make fundamental changes > FR> and choices in the way we decide our future to be! It's really > FR> our choice to make. And, I submit the choices we are making today > FR> are exactly why these fundamentals are not even being considered > FR> very much anymore. > > FR> Again. Whose fault is that? > > Now wait just a darn second here, Frank -- isn't open borders/free trade a > bedrock plank of the Libertarian Party platform? > > Isn't this what open borders and free trade bring -- cheap foreign goods and > local businesses relocating to where costs of production are lower?
I'm going to really piss off Frank here (hehehe). Who is at fault? The Chinese government is at fault, that's who. WHAT?!?! HOW the @%%# do you say that? Easy. It's a fact. The Chinese government has a fixed currency exchange rate. They fix their currency exchange rate to the dollar, thus ensuring that Chinese goods are less expensive to us "dollar for dollar" and US goods are more expensive to them. The end result, as it always is, is a trade imbalance. It's basic, fully understood international economics. I learned about it (through direct personal experience) in the 4th grade, and have understood it ever since. As "the dollar" continues it's downward correction (it's got about 2.5 years more to go I figure), you will not see the trade imbalance with China change much except more toward more of a deficit unless they adjust their rate. If the Chinese government let their currency exchange rate be market driven (not that any other government does - the all try to manage it) we'd likely be seeing a trade surplus wrt China. > To tie this in with the natl sales tax discussion, this country got along > fine for 150+ years with NO sales or income taxes. Tariffs brought in more > than enough to run the country AND protected our businesses from cheap > foreign products. Yup. -- Bill Anderson <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> _______________________________________________ Libnw mailing list [EMAIL PROTECTED] List info and subscriber options: http://immosys.com/mailman/listinfo/libnw Archives: http://immosys.com/mailman//pipermail/libnw
