But there *is* quo for the quid, which is the
surrender of the American industrial base. The quid
is not required for the purchase of the goods of
American industry--by that I mean the deficit portion
of the quid. It does not get America a "free lunch"
from the rest of the world. What it does is fill a
financial void in the rest of the world through
American deficit spending. That displaces American
labor and the income that formerly went to American
labor. They accomplish it by comparatively enslaving
their work force so that goods can be sold cheaply
into the American market in exchange for quid, not
goods that are not required. They want the quid, not
the goods. But the quid required to fill the void
could in principle be created by fiat domestically,
not export. It would be nothing more complicated
than an accounting adjustment.
In a rational world, all that needs to be exported
are sufficient things to acquire the means to
purchase the things that need to be imported. But
the existence of the void requires that quid is
required to be imported in excess of the means to
purchase the goods that need to be imported because
they don't have the imagination to do it any other
way. It is the effective exploitation of American
*and* foreign labor where nobody wins, not even the
capitalist or financier ultimately.
The American market was opened to its allies as a
means of subsidizing them during the cold war. The
effective cost was the surrender of a finite
percentage of the American industrial base and
degradation to the American standard of living. It
was limited to a percentage because Japan and the
little tigers were too small in terms of productivity
in relationship to the American economy to displace
more than a percentage. It was a form of parasitism
where both host and parasite could survive the ordeal
that made some sense during the cold war during a
time characterized by lack of imagination.
But now we have China rapidly coming on line
following the "Taiwan-Hong Kong" model, which is
really the Japan post-WWII export model that replaced
the "Co-Prosperity Sphere" model of conquest and
looting. But China is so large by comparison that it
has the potential capability of displacing the
entirety of America's industrial base. Already, much
of Japan's export market has become lost to China--
the root cause of their current malaise.
The theoretical limit to this madness is the death of
both host and parasite.
Bill
---original message---
Date: Thu, 18 Sep 2003 13:08:21 EDT
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: offlist---Re: [gang8] Keynes again, and making others be your creditor
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Gee, Bill, I hope you don't mean our nuclear capacity too!
What else could keep the rest of the world giving us quid without quo?
Michael
---------------------------------------------
---------------------------------------------
Michael, It seems to me that limit is reached when
the totality of America's industrial base has been
exported in exchange for the cheap goods imported.
Bill
--
--------- Original Message ---------
DATE: Thu, 18 Sep 2003 06:44:29
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc:
In a message dated 9/18/03 1:33:25 AM Eastern Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes:
There is presumably some comparable finite limit on the volume of US dollars which the
rest of the world is willing to hold, and therefore fund the US trade deficit.
Dear Chris,
You say, "There is presumably some comparable finite limit on the volume of US
dollars which the rest of the world is willing to hold, and therefore fund the US
trade deficit."
Can you please explain to me, in functional terms, what that limit is?
I can't find it?
And don't say something like "When Europe gets a brain." Its neoliberal, after
all.
Michael
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