[NMC EXP]

Greenspan’s message on trade is the simplistic one of a thousand undergraduate economics textbooks: trade benefits the consumer. And of course this is true—to a point....What the textbooks rarely mention is that the larger an economy is, the less it stands to gain from international trade.

[NMC EXP]

Trade FYI.....

[Willie Green]

Strangely, though, one crucial economic concern gets short shrift: international trade. Not only are there no trade statistics, but America’s perennially rising trade deficits have received virtually no attention from the Fed’s monograph writers in recent years.

Those stats are available at Foreign Trade Division, U.S. Census Bureau

[Bob J]

Some will characterize this as America falling behind while others, correctly, will bill it as the rest of the world catching up.

[A. Pole]

The U.S. has already sold so much of its asset base that its economic standing on the world stage has been significantly undermined. While this may not be obvious to the American public, it is shockingly clear in figures compiled by the International Monetary Fund. These show that between 1989 and 2000, America’s net foreign liabilities ballooned from $47 billion to $2,187 billion.

Free trade bump.

[A. Pole]

Their buy-the-dollar policy makes no sense on a stand-alone basis. It makes eminent sense, however, as part of a larger strategy. That strategy is to facilitate a historic shift in the world’s manufacturing center-of-gravity. The Japanese have an adage that explains it all: "Ebi de tai o tsuru" — "Use a shrimp to catch a sea bream."

Scary.

[Porterville]

Only one man has the capacity to provide effective leadership on this: the Federal Reserve chairman. But Greenspan has long since proved himself incompetent to the task. The key charge against him is a startling one: a signal lack of intellectual curiosity. Faced with a trade trend that has defied all textbook theory, he has monumentally failed to ask intelligent questions.

I don't much care for Greenspan, but in this posting there are so many comments like this that go nowhere. This writer pulls you into a thesis, sparks your interest, gets you saying to yourself, "Yeah really," and then changes the subject. One anti climax after another. I feel like I was thrown around like a Russian Politician.

[Porterville]

And the similes, the guy uses more similes than a Kindergartners phonics book.

[ETERNAL WARMING]

Excellent article. What amazes me is that either our leaders have no common sense, or they know exactly what they're doing, ie. NWO sell out. Our son graduated from Sloan Business College-MIT in the spring. They no longer teach that Free Trade is THE means of creating wealth. Thank God! It's also good to see more and more of those in powerful positions coming out on our side of the issue. How long can we be a superpower when we're indebted to every pissant nation on the face of the earth? How long can we remain sovereign when they can blackmail us any time they choose? How long can we defend ourselves when we don't even manufacture most of our weaponry? This has to stop. And it has to stop now.

[P.O.E.]

It is fair to say that where economic matters are concerned, he enjoys far greater trust than any president.

Is that really a compliment?

[William Terrell]

Trade, moreover, is of pivotal importance for America’s continued leadership of the world community.

Always the assumption that Mr. Greenspan wants America to be a leader in the world community.

[King Prout]

eeech. the title made me think this would be something interesting.
economics. *shudder*

[DustyMoment]

I have not been a fan of Greenspan since about the mid-90s. He ran out of tricks then and holds onto his job more by perception of gretness than by skill, knowledge, ability and talent.

When you couple this article with the fact that the dollar has fallen below the Euro and remained below it for the past several months, we are clearly in serious trouble. Butying our heads in the sand and pretending that we are in a transitional phase is counter-productive. New manufacturing plants and opportunities are not looming on the horizon; the infrastructure and coporate mindset is simply not there to support it. With the value of the dollar based on GDP and US GDP falling, we are, most assuredly, in deep kim-chee.

There is another pattern, however that really makes the aims of our government all too clear. The more jobs and industries that the US exports, the more that the former employees of those industries seek job stability. What sector of our economy is noted for job stability? What sector of our economy is noted for not firing even the most incompetent employee? The pattern I see emerging is that as more people lose their jobs in the private sector, the more they seek jobs in the government; jobs that are stable; jobs where no one gets fired because of incompetence, or redundancy, or economic downturns.

I first noted this when Clinton began raising interest rates at the end of his second term to force the recession. There was no compelling reason for him to raise interest rates except one: with a hot economy and unemployment at all time lows, fewer people relied on the government for goods and services. If fewer people are relying on the government and more people are working, a lot of the government functions begin to be questioned. Clinton wanted to create a need for government . . . BIG government . . . so, he got Greenspan to raise interest rates. Later, when Bush was elected, Greenspan admitted that he raised interest rate because "Clinton asked him to". In essence, he admitted that there was no compelling economic reason to do so.

Look where we are today - big government. Bush has increased the size of government more than Clinton ever dreamed. He has pushed government spending through 2 or 3 roofs and he's still spending. With no one to tell him that we can't support the current spending levels and his inability to find the 'VETO' stamp, he will probably continue spending us into nonexistence.

Trade balances and dollar values are significant barometers of our economic health. Based on current levels, the patient is very, very sick and the prognosis isn't looking too good.

[Ed_in_NJ]

bttt