John Marchioro wrote: > > And manufacturing (which generally led the US economy out of past > > recessions) has shrunk by half to only about 10% of the US economy, > > while finance has more than doubled to over 20% in the last 25 years > > (the figures are from Phillips' "Bad Money"). > > > And now you want more free trade as the solution? Is this a joke?
John Garside writes: > It seems to me that opposition to free trade has been a disservice to > US manufacturers: such protection (ism) is the reason why so many > industries -- emblematically automobiles -- are hopelessly outdated > and unable to compete. > > The same opposition held Indian manufacturing back for decades. > > And, even in the current economic crisis, intervention in favour of > British manufacturing is supported by very few, > > Produce something the world wants -- and that addresses such issues > as climate change -- and the deficit might magically evaporate. I heartily agree with John G. The solution to the trade deficit problem is to improve the competitiveness of industries, not protectionism. Taking the automotive industry as an example, US automakers have interestingly done very well in automobile sales outside of the US, so they have improved the trade deficit problem in that regard. The converse of the coin is that US branded cars are not doing well in the US, leading to the current crisis. All of those Gaulois smoking, espresso sipping cafe revolutionaries probably drive Priuses. There are US industries that are still quite globally competitive such as aerospace, computer processors and software, medicine and pharmaceuticals. I think the way out of the problem is through advances in areas where the US still has a technological edge and there is still plenty of promise in areas yet to be developed. Regards, Alan Siegrist Orinda, CA, USA --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ Persons posting messages to not_honyaku assume all responsibility for their messages. The list owner does not review messages prior to posting, and accepts no responsibility for the content of messages posted. -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
