America's role in the world economy. (1 Viewer)

[dstebbins]

The United States has one of the highest standards of living in the world. We are among the top ten, maybe even top five, richest nations on the planet. Because of the cost of labor, a lot of our products are expensive to manufacture, causing the prices to go up. This hurts our role in the world economy, since a similar product of roughly equal quality can be made much more cheaply in a country like Mexico or China. Therefore, not many other countries want to buy our products, and with so many cheap imports coming in from places like Japan and China, not many Americans are willing to pay the higher prices of American goods. A good example is cars. The Japanese have made better, cheaper cars than the United States, and everyone flocks to buy Japanese cars while American car companies like Ford and GM are left in the dust. Really the only products America sells a lot of are raw materials like copper and iron, and these are just made into other products that are more expensive, causing a trade deficit. Tariffs are always an option, but when we put tariffs on foreign products, they put tariffs on our products, doing additional harm to a foreign market that cannot afford another nail in its coffin.

Since the products of other countries are obviously more popular with us, and our expensive products are unpopular around the world, maybe we can establish a niche place in the world economy in the retail industry. Retail labor is cheap now, but if the US economy becomes more retail-focused, retail labor will become more important, causing their worth to increase, and we all know that with an increase in worth comes an increase in salary.

So what do you think?

 

[PeteEU]

The United States has one of the highest standards of living in the world. We are among the top ten, maybe even top five, richest nations on the planet.

Second richest in the world according to the last numbers I have seen, but it goes up and down.

Because of the cost of labor, a lot of our products are expensive to manufacture, causing the prices to go up. This hurts our role in the world economy, since a similar product of roughly equal quality can be made much more cheaply in a country like Mexico or China.

The price of not having slave like conditions and wages for the people. Would you rather have cheap domestic products but dirt poor workers who barely can live on what they want let alone buy what they make? Then you would have to change the whole society including throwing our democratic values out the window.

Therefore, not many other countries want to buy our products, and with so many cheap imports coming in from places like Japan and China, not many Americans are willing to pay the higher prices of American goods.

Acutally thats because there are so few "american" products left and those that are left either are crap or only sell to americans (as in the rest dont give a damn about oreos or tang.. just not our taste)

A good example is cars. The Japanese have made better, cheaper cars than the United States, and everyone flocks to buy Japanese cars while American car companies like Ford and GM are left in the dust.

Not entierly true. Ford sells very well overseas (using cars designed for overseas) as does GM under different brandnames. Its local brands and cars that dont sell well overseas.. because they are crap basicly. Badly made, go 0 on the gallon and are too large. Almost every local brand/car that is attempted sold in Europe gets the same marks as a chinese or korean made car on quality and thats bad. I saw one car show (very respected) totaly hammer the newest Vet for crappy workmanship.. but it still got high marks for image.

Really the only products America sells a lot of are raw materials like copper and iron, and these are just made into other products that are more expensive, causing a trade deficit.

Not sure about that.. America generally dont sell much for export.. its a consumer hence the large imports. And as far as I know it dont export very much of natural resources, with the exception of farm goods but there Brazil has or is going past the US in production and exports on many products.

Tariffs are always an option, but when we put tariffs on foreign products, they put tariffs on our products, doing additional harm to a foreign market that cannot afford another nail in its coffin.

Not to mention its against policy and the WTO rules.. even though the US and other countries still do it sometimes.

Since the products of other countries are obviously more popular with us, and our expensive products are unpopular around the world, maybe we can establish a niche place in the world economy in the retail industry. Retail labor is cheap now, but if the US economy becomes more retail-focused, retail labor will become more important, causing their worth to increase, and we all know that with an increase in worth comes an increase in salary.

But thats not a niche at all.. its part of the natural development of a nation.. Farming society > industrial society > service society. Service sector jobs are "cheap" because they dont really require much education to manage unless of course the companies start to demand certain levels.. but look at walmart.. they are not exactly hireing people for thier college records.

We have to face it that along with cheap products we lose jobs and finding a replacement for said jobs in the short term is hard as hell. The big question is if the jobs can even be found. The "cheap" countries are after all catching up fast and thier wages are not getting higher relatively it seems and they are taking exactly the jobs that were expected to replace the lost industrial jobs.

 

[dstebbins]

The price of not having slave like conditions and wages for the people. Would you rather have cheap domestic products but dirt poor workers who barely can live on what they want let alone buy what they make? Then you would have to change the whole society including throwing our democratic values out the window.

Dude, you're asking someone who is more educated and more aware than the average American. Of course I know of the working conditions and wages in other countries. Why do you think so many Mexicans are crossing the border to enthusiasticallywork in jobs that many people would sleep with a mule before taking, for fifty cents an hour. I know what the conditions are like in other countries.

But other Americans don't. One man is not going to make that much of a difference.

Not entierly true. Ford sells very well overseas (using cars designed for overseas) as does GM under different brandnames. Its local brands and cars that dont sell well overseas.. because they are crap basicly. Badly made, go 0 on the gallon and are too large. Almost every local brand/car that is attempted sold in Europe gets the same marks as a chinese or korean made car on quality and thats bad. I saw one car show (very respected) totaly hammer the newest Vet for crappy workmanship.. but it still got high marks for image.

Still, if a company cannot sell well in its own country, it's a disgrace to America.

Not sure about that.. America generally dont sell much for export.. its a consumer hence the large imports. And as far as I know it dont export very much of natural resources, with the exception of farm goods but there Brazil has or is going past the US in production and exports on many products.

I never said we were the world's leader in raw materials exports. I just said we sell a lot of it. If you consider Hawaii and Alaska, we have absolutely every type of climate in the world, from tropical to tundra, and almost every natural resource known to man. Some are in smaller quantities than others, but we do have them.

Besides, even if we run low, we have the technology to make them synthetically. SynTech, unless I am sadly mistaken, does not pump their own petrolium, but rather gets carbon and hydrogen together in certain ratios and chemically engineers them. I know for a fact that some oil company does this, and I think it's SynTech since it sounds short for synthetic technology.

Not to mention its against policy and the WTO rules.. even though the US and other countries still do it sometimes.

And you're point on this is...?:roll:

But thats not a niche at all.. its part of the natural development of a nation.. Farming society > industrial society > service society. Service sector jobs are "cheap" because they dont really require much education to manage unless of course the companies start to demand certain levels.. but look at walmart.. they are not exactly hireing people for thier college records.

They are if you consider management executive positions and/or positions that require serious math skills. There would still be plenty of reasons to further your education, such as being a doctor, lawyer, or scientist.

We have to face it that along with cheap products we lose jobs and finding a replacement for said jobs in the short term is hard as hell. The big question is if the jobs can even be found. The "cheap" countries are after all catching up fast and thier wages are not getting higher relatively it seems and they are taking exactly the jobs that were expected to replace the lost industrial jobs.

Trust me, if it weren't for the North American Free Trade Agreement, there would not be so many jobs being shipped overseas and to Mexico because that wouldn't be allowed.