In article , Alun
writes:
(N2EY) wrote in
:
In article , Alun
writes:
(N2EY) wrote in
e.com:
Alun wrote in message
.. .
snip
I think access to education is already a problem and likely to get
worse. At the same time it's probably about the only antidote to
offshore production.
Then it should be a major priority, rather than trips to Mars ans
such.
Or foreign adventuring.
We had good teachers in that....
Guilty as charged
Exactly. You'd think we'd learn by others' mistakes.
Even then, you have countries like India to worry about. Despite
their overall poverty they have more English speaking educated
middle class than America (their sheer numbers help here), and they
are willing to do white collar and professional jobs for much less.
Only because it costs so much less to live there.
That's true, and ironically that's probably due to the huge number of
poor people there. Basic food and services are likely to be provided to
the Indian middle classes by people who are far poorer than we can
really imagine.
That's true but there are other factors to consider: the budget
deficit, the trade deficit and the strong dollar.
The figures for the January trade deficit came out recently. The
highest in US history, something like 46 billion in one month. Much of
that is with East Asian countires like China, Japan, and maybe India.
But particularly China.
Imports are inexpensive in part because these countries keep their
currencies low relative to the dollar. Because of the trade deficit,
lots of dollars wind up there, but they don't use those dollars to buy
US products. Instead, they buy US investments - both government
securities and private-sector companies.
IOW we export money and jobs, and they use the money to finance our
debt and buy up the USA a little at a time.
Way back in 1783, when the US Constitution was written here in
Philadelphia, one of the limitations placed on Congress was that
there would be no tariffs on *exports*. *Imports* could be
tarriffed/taxed at will - and they were! This was done both as a
source of income and to protect local industry from destructive
foreign competition. It is my understanding that we still have some
forms of this in place, in the form of such things as limits on the
number of cars that may be imported without special taxes. These
import quotas caused several carmakers (mostly Japanese) to build
assembly plants here in the USA. Some cars are even built here and
shipped *back to Japan*, because by doing so they count against the
import number.
Maybe it's time for that sort of thing to be expanded. Exporting jobs
may be good for some companies' bottom line in the short run, but in
the long run it spells big trouble.
Forgive me for saying this as a foreigner, but there seems to be no
limit to the level of greed exhibited by corporate America.
How do you define "greed", Alun? Wanting to make a profit? How much
profit is OK and how much is greed?
It's more of an attitude
Check this out:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...6&e=17&u=/wash
post/20040311/ts_washpost/a48216_2004mar10
"Six months after promising to create an office to help the nation's
struggling manufacturers, President Bush settled on someone to head it, but
the nomination was being reconsidered last night after Democrats revealed
that his candidate had opened a factory in China."
73 de Jim, N2EY