Thought I would draft this note anyway, folks. Some people might believe the BEA estimate for the total value of US imports of $1.4 trillion in 2002. I don't. I think it would be more correct to say that the US imported a monetary value of $2.5 trillion, comprising money capital (44%), industrial materials (10.5%), business services (9%), equipment goods (14.6%), consumer goods & services (21%) and military goods & services (0.8%). In addition, it gained one million new legal immigrants. Yep, the US really had it coming that year.
But how do I arrive at such a figure ? One of those Charlie Brown "I just made up the figures" exercises perhaps ? I guess it all depends on how you define the value of "imports", and I define it as the value of what actually went into the USA, economically speaking (I haven't considered imports of hours of lifetime and ecological effects at this stage of research). Let's forget about neoclassical boredom for a moment, and just have a look please, at how my revised estimate of total imports is arrived at (I'm working from BEA and BOP figures): 1. Total imports of money capital: = $1,117.6 billion, including: Net foreign private purchases of corporate and other bonds = $236.3 billion Net increase in other financial asset claims acquired by foreign investors in US domestic territory = $163.3 billion Income of US residents from direct investment overseas which has been reinvested = $121.0 billion Foreign private investment in US Treasury securities = $96.2 billion Interest income receipts from overseas = $93.5 billion Dividend income receipts from overseas = $81.5 billion Income from foreign tourists = $80 billion (own estimate) Net foreign private purchases of US equity stocks = $55.1 billion Foreign government investment in US Treasury securities = $43.1 billion Foreign private direct investment into the US = $39.6 billion Foreign government investment in other US government securities = $30.4 billion Net increase in currency holdings in US territory by foreign investors = $21.5 billion Other foreign government investment in US corporate stocks and debt securities = $21.3 billion US federal cash receipts from foreign governments (mainly military sales contracts), net of refunds = $10.0 billion US federal taxes from the rest of the world = $7.2 billion US federal acquisition of foreign currency = $6 billion Miscellaneous US federal income receipts from overseas = $3.3 billion Wage and salary income receipts from overseas = $3.2 billion 2. Total imports of industrial materials = $268.3 billion, including: Crude oil = $77.3 billion Metals = $39 billion Industrial chemicals = $33 billion Building materials (non-metal) = $22.5 billion Other petroleum products = $13.3 billion Paper = $11.5 billion Natural gas = $11 billion Industrial textiles = $10.9 billion Fuel oil = $9.2 billion Liquefied petroleum gas = $3.7 billion fertilizers = $3.7 billion Nuclear fuel materials = $2.2 billion Electric power = $1.1 billion Coal, cokes & bitumen = $1 billion Other materials = $28.9 billion 3. Total imports of business services = $230.9 billion, including: Miscellaneous private services = $80.5 billion Transport services = $61.9 billion (own estimate) Services from US controlled enterprises overseas = $32.4 billion Foreign insurance services = $15.3 billion User, patent and property rights/licenses bought from US enterprises overseas = $15.1 billion Business, professional, and technical services bought from foreign enterprises = $10.7 billion User, patent and property rights/licenses bought from foreign enterprises = $4.1 billion Foreign financial services = $3.7 billion Foreign telecommunications = $4.2 billion Services bought by US government agencies from overseas = $2.9 billion 4. Total imports of equipment goods = $372.7 billion, including: Industrial machinery = $97.8 billion Mechanical componentry for vehicles = $74.5 billion Computer accessories = $59 billion Specialised business equipment & instruments = $33.8 billion Semiconductors = $26 billion Telecommunications equipment = $23.1 billion Trucks = $19.3 billion (some personal use trucks included) Computers = $16.1 billion Civilian aircraft = $12.3 billion (some personal aircraft included) Metalworking machine tools = $5.9 billion Wood, glass, and plastic fittings = $4.4 billion Ships = $0.2 billion Spacecraft equipment, excluding military = $0.036 billion 5. Total imports of consumer goods & services = $535 billion, including: Cars = $114 billion Miscellaneous goods for household use = $107.2 billion Clothing & footwear = $88.3 billion Personal travel = $54.6 billion (own estimate) Food and beverages = $50.7 billion Household appliances (including TVs, VCRs, audio) = $41.7 billion Medical drugs = $40.7 billion Jewelry, antiques, numismatic coins etc. = $30 billion Pleasure boats = $2.2 billion Motorcycles = $3 billion Foreign educational services = $2.5 billion (includes foreign business trainings) 6. Total imports of military goods & services = $19.2 billion, including: Military goods & services = $19.2 billion 7. Total imports of people, including: 1,063,732 new legal permanent residents Approximately 38 million visits (own guess) by foreign travellers, including 11.3 million leisure visits by airplane and 5.4 million business visits by airplane (about a third of the visitors by airplane are professionals, another third managers). Okay, maybe you don't agree with my figures. Well then, you do some work on it, and figure something out, so we can compare our estimates. All this arid globalisation discourse ain't going to enlighten anybody. That's my line of thinking anyway. Notes: (i) The sources of the value of imported cars included Japan = $35 billion, Canada = $31 billion, Germany = $17.8 billion, Mexico = $13.5, billion, Korea = $6,8 billion, and UK = $4 billion. (ii) The value of durable imported goods was = $770.4 billion (of which = $61.4 billion re-exported) and the value of nondurable goods was = $419.9 billion (of which = $1.9 billion re-exported). References: Paolo Giussani, "Empirical Evidence for Trends towards Globalization: The Discovery of Hot Air." Paul Hirst & Grahame Thompson, Globalisation in Question, 2nd edition, Cambridge: Polity, 1999 V.I. Lenin, Imperialism: the highest stage of capitalism (various editions). Oscar Morgenstern, On the Accuracy of Economic Observations, 2nd Edition, Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1963 Jurriaan People are talkin', talkin' 'bout people, I hear them whisper, you won't believe it. They think we're lovers kept under cover, I just ignore it but they keep sayin' we... laugh just a little too loud, stand just a little too close, we stare just a little too long. Maybe they're seein' somethin', somethin' we don't darlin'. Let's give 'em somethin' to talk about A little mystery to figure out Let's give 'em somethin' to talk about How about love? I feel so foolish, I never noticed You act so nervous, could you be fallin' for me? It took the rumor to make me wonder, Now I'm convinced that I'm goin' under. Thinkin' 'bout you every day, dreamin' 'bout you every night. I'm hopin' that you feel the same way, Now that we know it, let's really show it darlin'. Let's give 'em somethin' to talk about A little mystery to figure out Let's give 'em somethin' to talk about How about love? Let's give 'em somethin' to talk about babe, A little mystery to figure out. Let's give 'em somethin' to talk about, How about love? Listen to 'em baby A little mystery won't hurt 'em Let's give 'em somethin' to talk How about our love, love, love, love whoowhoo mmmm hey oohh whoowhoo About love, love, love, love How about they talk about it? uh huh Talk about love... - Bonnie Raitt, "Something to talk about"
