Posted on 08/13/2011 6:52:27 PM PDT by Mikey_1962
An analysis just released by the Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco concludes that most of what Americans spend on consumer goods, electronics, clothing, sneakers and the like, stays in America. Surprisingly little comes from China after all. Say the authors:
Goods and services from China accounted for only 2.7% of U.S. personal consumption expenditures (PCE) in 2010…Chinese imports make up only a small share of total U.S. consumer spending…
Athough globalization is widely recognized these days, the U.S. economy actually remains relatively closed. The vast majority of goods and services sold in the United States is produced here. In 2010, imports were about 16% of U.S. GDP. Imports from China amounted to 2.5% of GDP.
About 55% of the amount spent on goods made in China stays in the U.S. as well, in the form of transportation costs, wholesale and retail marketing expenses, and labor. Put another way, $276 billion was spent in 2010 on consumer goods labeled “Made in China” compared to the total consumer spending of $10.2 trillion, and $153 billion of that stayed in the United States.
When local services such as doctor’s appointments or a trip to the local theatre or restaurant are excluded, China still takes only about 20 percent of consumer spending on household equipment and furniture, and just 35 percent of clothing and shoe sales. All together then, when the American consumer spends money, only about 3 cents of every dollar is actually spent on “Made in China” goods, and half of that stays here. As noted by Doug Henwood, this study should “revise a lot of clichés.” It’s also a reminder of how much economic activity is inside the American economy – that for most consumers, the best customer is themselves.
(Excerpt) Read more at thenewamerican.com ...
I wouldn’t recommend we continue pretending the emperor is wearing clothes.
He’s not.
He’s naked. And he’s ugly. And pretending he’s not there won’t change anything.
He’ll just get uglier. And uglier. The longer we pretend he’s not there.
I’ve never worried about whether emperors are naked or ugly if they’re not there. And if everyone’s merely ignoring him, he can’t be that much of an emperor.
The fact we are sending several tens of billions of dollars each and every month to build up a growing adversarial new superpower with 5 times our population is not a joke.
Ignoring that unpleasant fact, will only make the problem worse.
It is if you think that stopping that trade will make things better for us.
Trade is paying for the Chinese military.
We do not have trade.
We have a transfer of American dollars to a communist country.
As it is, if you think that “made in China” is the big problem, vote for Obama next year. The economy’s in the dumps, but “Blame China” is owned by demagogues on the left.
Are you an importer?
“Trade” as currently practiced, oddly named since it involves only sending money one direction - is destroying American jobs, America’s security and losing our nation’s once vast wealth.
I’d say yes, that’s a big problem.
Bigger than any of those you mentioned in fact.
I know personally there is not a single American poured casting on any of the green or red tractors supposedly made here. Most of the machined components are Chinese as well.
Blah blah blah, more endless circular “free trade” logic.
China is protectionist.
It’s working.
We have an unprotected market.
It’s not working.
We have an economy that isn’t competitive anymore and a government that’s spending us into bottomless debt (financed in part by China) while it’s making our economy less competitive. You can whine all you want about the Chinese, the Japanese, the Germans, etc but the facts get in the way of your empty bombast.
You’re on the wrong side of this argument, and you know it.
No, you are. You may not know it, but only you can fix that.
I am on the American side.
No, you’re on your side. You don’t represent me at all.
A few days ago I pulled off the highway to visit an ‘Amish store.’ I only made a small sampling but it appeared that about half of the products were made by Amish in that local region of the USA and half were produced in the Amish Republic of China.
What he’s saying is that of 100% of the cost of the item 45% goes to China for the manufacture and 55% goes to American concerns for profit, transportation and retailing. Whether that’s true or not I don’t know.
During that time, US manufacturing was still in the range of close to 40 percent of total economy. A lot has changed in 20+ years.
Germany's GDP and manufacturing output did not hit pre-war levels until the late 1980's
They also have a lot of small businesses across a very large spectrum of industries. They didn't become the world's largest exporter for nothing (only eclipsed by China last year, but that can't last).
Germany concentrates on high tech, high value added manufacturing products. A good national strategy
Well, some juice is made here; I just drove by Treetop today. They may contract some lines to China; I don't know.
But the important thing is that Washington State apples predominantly are sold as apples, not juice. Passed what seemed like thousands of orchards in the Yakima Valley and Columbia River areas with many varieties of apple on the tree.
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