I got my facts a little messed up I appologize. I recently remembered the Treasury prints the money. Some reason I thought the Fed printed it. Never the less, Money isn't backed by gold anymore, it used to be, not anymore though. At one time there was enough gold in Fort Knox to back gold but not anymore. Also, it's not completely the chinese fault, granted it is mostly but, why is it that we aren't making sure they can't send stuff here to cheap? We have NO tariffs for china, which means they can send all their cheap producst here and make money. If we were to make it not cost effective to send stuff here then we wouldn't have to deal with competing with them. Our factories would fire back up because nobody would be able to import. American goods used be some of the best in the world, now the only made in America items I have in my house are probably my woodcutting hatchet and my composition book. I can't even say my computer I'm typing all this on is made in America, Assembled here, parts from who knows where.
Also, it's not completely the chinese fault, granted it is mostly but, why is it that we aren't making sure they can't send stuff here to cheap?
Ok, then pay higher for everything you export. Fair deal?
We have NO tariffs for china, which means they can send all their cheap producst here and make money.
Under the WTO treaty, tariffs are frowned upon. But I suppose the US being the king of the world can ignore that?
Anyway, they have tariffs. Tariff on tyres. Tariff on solar cells.
If we were to make it not cost effective to send stuff here then we wouldn't have to deal with competing with them.
Let's all go back to the dark autarkic days of the 1930s then! Every economic student worth his salt knows that trade is the way forward. And in today's world, it's not possible to impose tariffs without suffering. Your consumers suffer by paying higher prices due to the higher cost of production in the US (For example, US steel is much more expensive). Your trade partners will feel obliged to hit back with more tariffs, in order to recoup their losses. End result? Everyone loses, but the export dependent US loses more.
Our factories would fire back up because nobody would be able to import.
Your factories also depend heavily on foreign materials. Iron, coal, oil, they're all imported.
American goods used be some of the best in the world, now the only made in America items I have in my house are probably my woodcutting hatchet and my composition book.
America's decline can only be blamed on itself, a key example would be the car industry. In the 1970s, whilst GM reigned supreme, they exported most of the world's cars. Japan caught on, and innovated. On the other hand, GM merely did cursory superficial upgrades, such as car colours, whilst at the same time paying ever higher wages without an increase in worker productivity. End result? Look at Detroit today.
We shouldn't have to follow any rules set out by other nations. we are a sovereign nation, well we used to be, and sure. make us have tariffs so high we can't export. WE will just become self Independant. Why rely on other countries when we can do it ourselves and put millions to work? And if they want to do bussiness here then why not come and set up shope here? And our factories wouldn't need foregn materials because we have all the resources in America for Centuries. We haven't really don't anything with our resources. If we want to be could become independant. Detroit is a shell of it's former self, it was once a great city but now it's a nightmare. I blame that mainly on the Unions, they may have helped people a few hundred years ago but their power has grown beyond what it should be. Unions have the power to cripple companies and they have done that so many time. That is why I like the Right to Work Bill they passed recently.
We shouldn't have to follow any rules set out by other nations. we are a sovereign nation, well we used to be, and sure. make us have tariffs so high we can't export.
Says the nation that has military bases in almost every nation on Earth, and has in the past decade, invaded two nations.
WE will just become self Independant. Why rely on other countries when we can do it ourselves and put millions to work?
Because as I have stated, the US does not have all resources needed to sustain itself. It does not have for one, the rare earths used in all electronic devices. Much of such rare earths are found in China and Australia.
And our factories wouldn't need foregn materials because we have all the resources in America for Centuries.
I laughed and giggled. America had the resources to sustain it's old self, back in the 1600s. Today, to build the cities, make the goods you have, nope, no single nation has the resources to. Or did you think they used rare-earth materials such as terbium, which finds use in flat-panel TVs and high-efficiency fluorescent lamps, and neodymium, key to the permanent magnets in high-efficiency electric motors?
I blame that mainly on the Unions, they may have helped people a few hundred years ago but their power has grown beyond what it should be.
In certain cases yes. But Unions are always good to have, as a counterweight to companies.
I don't get to choose where our nations military is. Personally I would put it to use securing our borders and stopping people from smuggling all these drugs, illegal guns, and people in here. You'de be surprised what we have, America is rich resouce wise and we have just about every mineral out there. You ever hear of adapt and overcome? Back before watches they used the sun, we won't use be doing something like that but I'm saying there is always a way around something, You'de be surprised what you find when you experiment with stuff. Some areas, but quite recently the Unions have over stepped their bounds and basically taken over many states.
You'de be surprised what we have, America is rich resouce wise and we have just about every mineral out there.
Trade goes both ways. The US remains the largest exporter of agricultural products and military equipment and is the second largest exporter. Without such cash inflows, the economy will collapse, because the population will not be able to absorb all the goods.
Only 28.6 percent of U.S. economic activity came from consumption of goods in 2006, trade in manufactured goods accounted for more than 70 percent of U.S. exports during the same period.
After the war, the US built itself into an economic powerhouse based on free trade. It did not shrink back to the dark days of protectionism, but created the Bretton Woods System, which enabled US capital to flow overseas, set up factories, and establish US dominance. If history has taught us anything, it is that trade is vital.
Back before watches they used the sun, we won't use be doing something like that but I'm saying there is always a way around something,
Just like how we will all not become dependent on oil. We have tried for decades, yet the costs are not low enough to be effective. By the time the US finds a solution to decouple itself from the global trade chain, it would be too late.
The USA wasn;t independent of us until 1776, and I think that we were expelled because the founding states prefer to run their own economy for their own benefit which is fair enough. They are way too big now for us to come in and sort things out.
My dad was too tired after work to read the newspapers and educate me in macroeconomics. He was what we call a wage slave, clinging on to the wreckage as Westminster ran the bigger picture.
I think that the value of money is all in the mind. Thepaper and metal we use for transactions is symbolic of the value we place on things. It might as well be Monopoly money. In the game the blues are worth more than the browns but the notes we use to pay for properties or to pay rent are worth nothing in real terms. Money is a poor diet. Indigestable. I think that economies were based on gold because gold lasts longer than a burger.
If only sorting out the world's finances was as easy as playing Monopoly. I think that politics interferes too much with providence.
I like Ron Paul. I have little belief in the reports that he has fiddled his expenses. It could be just campain mudslinging. I think that he is an honest man. The jury is still out.
You ever hear of a man called George Washington Carver? A brilliant man he was. He found thousands of uses for peanuts. If something as simple as peanuts could be used in thousands of different ways then I believe other agricultural products can also be used to such effect. I agree with hand, money is only as valuable as we say it is. If you think about it all it is good for in reallife is starting a fire. Back in the old day they used to barter for everything. Why can't we simply do that again? Seemed to work back then, and now we wouldn't have to deal with banks and such. The government would simply run on shiny gold that people value for some reason.
How does this even relate to the discussion? If you're point out that Americans used to be industrious entrepreneurs, no one is denying that. But this was in the past. America lost much of its glimmer and decreased in productivity per worker during the 70s and 80s.
Back in the old day they used to barter for everything. Why can't we simply do that again? Seemed to work back then, and now we wouldn't have to deal with banks and such.
Because bartering is awfully inefficient and a hassle. Money is a common medium which we can value all goods fairly and to the best estimation. Say if I traded 1 apple for 2 oranges. And that 1 orange can be traded for one pear. But if 1 apple doesn't get bartered for 1 pear, then there is a breakdown in the system. Money ensures that no such cheating can occur.
And with transactions on the scale today, you'll waste hours of time counting those apples. Nightmare logistics.
Another reason is that now we increasingly shift to service sectors, which have very intangible and debatable values. A modern society cannot run of that. For instance, I am a factory worker at a power plant and my work is to provide maintenance for the wiring. What would they give me in exchange: some of the electricity I help to generate? Fine, but how do I now go and exchange it for the hundreds of things that I need or want: food, clothes, education for my kids, gasoline? I'll have to find people one by one, who are willing to supply me such goods at the amount of electricity I'm willing to give (Assuming of course, electricity can be bottled up, which it can't.). Then the negotiations begin, which takes up valuable time. Money ensures a fixed price.
The problem with the barter system is that the demand of goods fluctuates greatly, but the value of money stays much more constant. Finding a market equilibrium, or barter point for 2 goods without money involved is going to be a tremendously hard task.
I think that the problem with barter is the short shelf life of some goods. For example, if we arranged to trade a bowl of soup for a wild flower, the bowl of soup might be cold by the time a wild flower could be found.
