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Politics : View from the Center and Left
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To: TimF who wrote (28232)9/8/2006 2:35:32 PM
From: neolib  Read Replies (1) of 542201
 
I disagree. If imported goods were a larger factor than we would be manufacturing less than we used to manufacture, but we manufacture more (measured by real dollar value of output).

Surely you understand normalization. The above statement is nonsense. We are not arguing about consumption, but our fraction of manufacturing what is consumed. Productivity applies worldwide as well. The question is, what fraction of the USA's consumption of manufactured goods as well as what fraction of worldwide manufacturing is in the USA?

Competitive pressure isn't all bad. It forces the US to improve its net combination of price, service, and quality. Remove that competition and the consumer is harmed.

From solely the consumer's standpoint, it does not matter who manufactures goods. It only matters if the consumer loses his/her job because one component of competitive pressure resulted in there employer offshoring their job. It also starts to matter if enough of the consumers neighbors suffer such a fate, even though the specific individual might not have.

The long term tend will be a reduction in the gap between the USA's and the rest of the world's standard of living. This is good IMO, but it will most likely be a bit or perhaps a lot of pain for the USA in the intermediate stages. You are already seeing one effect in the price of oil and other raw materials.
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