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The Economics of Outsourcing: Americans need to understand and adapt to such developments.
National Review ^ | 08/02/2012 | W. Michael Cox & Richard Alm

Posted on 08/02/2012 7:01:12 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

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To: moonshot925

Are you Senator Feinstein by any chance? She publicly kowtowed to the Chinese in 2001 to protect her crappy Shanghai steel mill.

It was a good bet because instead of the American people becoming nauseated by her grubbing she managed to stay in power. Now her crappy chinese steel is being used to build the san francisco bay bridge. Too bad for California taxpayers as the crappy welds on Feinsteins crappy steel have to be cut out and redone by Americans. No wonder building the bridge is taking so long.

Oh yeah, Ms Feinstein, everyone it benefiting from ‘free trade’. Uh huh, yeah right.


41 posted on 08/02/2012 10:26:12 PM PDT by hedgetrimmer
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To: hedgetrimmer

Are you Senator Feinstein by any chance?

Maybe that is Feinstien. I hear Pelosi also has made millions off of Asian investments.


42 posted on 08/02/2012 11:50:57 PM PDT by rurgan (Sunset all laws at 4 years.China is destroying U.S. ability to manufacture,makes everything)
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To: moonshot925
You attack me personally just to discredit points I make. That you don't address the issues or article I posted shows your agenda.
43 posted on 08/03/2012 10:51:23 AM PDT by rurgan (Sunset all laws at 4 years.China is destroying U.S. ability to manufacture,makes everything)
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To: Timber Rattler; Buckeye McFrog; SeekAndFind; raybbr; American in Israel; InterceptPoint; ...
China is doing many things to destroy America and our American dream. China practices massive currency manipulation but that is just one of many things China does to wage war against Americans and to destroy America.This article is just one more example of how china is destroying what remains of U.S. manufacturing and so China is destroying the U.S.A. . Every American should read this article:

https://www.stlbeacon.org/?_escaped_fragment_=/content/23613/anti_dum
12:07 am on Mon, 03.26.12
WASHINGTON – Steel wheels, nails and bedsprings made in Missouri are on the list. So are pipes, paintbrushes and coat hangers from Illinois. Not to mention a host of other products, from Silicon Valley electronics to Detroit auto parts.

If it seems that the Chinese are throwing cheaper versions of everything but the kitchen sink at U.S. markets, think again. This month, an Illinois kitchen-sink manufacturer — the Elkay Cos. — asked Washington to slap an “anti-dumping” tariff on Chinese steel sinks.

Whether the product is sinks or steel wheels, the complaints by U.S. manufacturers allege that China unfairly subsidizes the plants that make such products, allowing exporters to sell them in this country at less than fair market value.

In the most recent Missouri case, executives of Hayes Lemmerz — an international steel wheels manufacturer that employs more than 300 people at its plant in Sedalia — asked the U.S. International Trade Commission on March 8 to order punitive duties against Chinese imports that they contend unfairly undercut their prices.

“Don’t let dumped Chinese wheels shut down these plants and cost these good, hardworking Americans their jobs,” said Donald Hampton Jr., who supervises the steel-wheel plants in Sedalia and Akron, Ohio.

U.S. manufacturing jobs have declined by 36% in the last decade and that is because of trade with other countries. millions of Americans have lost their jobs because of that. We have to stop China now.

China has been destroying the U.S.A. China has caused untold misery, unemployment, homelessness and killed many Americans by denying them a chance to make a living.

WE the U.S.A can't even make our own consumer electronics nor our own clothes and many other consumer industries. China makes MOST of the consumer electronics that 9 billion people use, 54% of the world's steel. China has 10 times the number of manufacturing workers than the U.S. has. Most of these workers work in new modern factories that the U.S.A has never seen the like of. Yet many propagandists here say that the debt ridden U.S. is more productive than China: it's all lies.

So by the logic of some on here we have to allow china to do anything to the U.S.A. and Americans individuals or American companies as long as they call it “trade” or economics.NO we need the military for stopping China from invading the U.S. with troops . likewise we need to stop China's economic war against the U.S.A and from what China is doing to Americans. We need the government to protect Americans against armies, against China, against immigrants, against anything foreign. By your logic then we have to allow U.S companies to import an unlimited number of immigrants also( are you for that too?)Yes we need to limit government inside the border but we need a border and to protect that border against immigrants , china , the UN, WTO, .We need a fortress America .We must be for America first and let China go to hell! Pass this article on to all you know. China makes 54% of the world's steel and most of the consumer electronics 9 billion people use. We in the U.S. cannot even make our own consumer electronics. but many say U.S. produces more(ridiculous)

44 posted on 08/03/2012 11:13:17 AM PDT by rurgan (Sunset all laws at 4 years.China is destroying U.S. ability to manufacture,makes everything)
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To: desertfreedom765; Buckeye McFrog; SeekAndFind; raybbr; American in Israel; InterceptPoint; ...

WE the U.S.A can’t even make our own consumer electronics nor our own clothes and many other consumer industries. China makes MOST of the consumer electronics that 9 billion people use, 54% of the world’s steel. China has 10 times the number of manufacturing workers than the U.S. has. Most of these China workers work in new modern factories that the U.S.A has never seen the like of. Yet many propagandists here say that the debt ridden U.S. is more productive than China: it’s all lies.


45 posted on 08/03/2012 11:15:24 AM PDT by rurgan (Sunset all laws at 4 years.China is destroying U.S. ability to manufacture,makes everything)
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To: rurgan

We need protective tarriffs. And we will probably have to abandon the WTO to put them in place.

We need to raise import tarriffs preferably on imports that are high tech, high manufacturing knowledge, high value, or strategic for defense. And we need to raise them and keep them up, until unemployment goes down.

There is in my opinion a fundamental flaw in our capital markets. The value of a firm to the country as a whole is probably 8 times greater than the value of a firm to it’s owner.

This is because a firm’s owner only values profits, while the country as a whole values profits, all wages both direct and indirect, and all taxes. For a typical firm direct wages probably accounts for 70% of product costs, and indirect wages probably accounts for 70% of raw materials.

The capital markets work okay as long we trade only with like minded companies that have similar wages and similar tax structures and all have free markets.

But when trading with a communist company like China, that restricts ownership and has massive amounts of cheap labor, they can buy our firms for a fraction of what they are really worth, put our people out of business, and employ their people.

It’s a massive win for them and it’s a loss for us. And we better figure out how to fight this economic war and quick. The easiest way is simply to raise tarriffs and give our economy a chance to recover. We can and should take advantage of their cheap labor, but not to the extent that it causes high unemployment here.


46 posted on 08/03/2012 11:29:03 AM PDT by DannyTN
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To: InterceptPoint
"Bottom line: there is no net trade imbalance."

That's an overly simplistic way of looking at it. It ignores that if you are importing goods, and exporting your manufacturing capability, that you are liquidating your means of production. And that is "balanced trade" recipe for bankruptcy.

47 posted on 08/03/2012 11:33:52 AM PDT by DannyTN
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To: Timber Rattler
1) The U.S. government has crippled American companies with its taxes and regulations,

I disagree. They are inconvenient and so are the first things people complain about, but they are not crippling. And you could do away with all taxes and regulations and not compete with countries employing communist slave labor.

2) The U.S. is not playing on a level field---the jobs are going to places like Communist China, lawless Mexico, and Southeast Asia, where slave-like labor is common place, especially with children.

THIS is the key point. But this is easily rectified, just raise import tarriffs until our unemployment goes down. And then selective lower them, allowing high value processes to remain in the U.S. while highly competitive low value processes can be outsourced to take advantage of cheap labor.

"3) The unions and lawyers have driven costs of production through the roof."

Again, remove the unions and we still are not going to compete with slave labor from communist china. Unless our own labor markets fall that low. I don't think unions made that much impact to the labor markets, but if they did, I'd take my hat off to the unions. In fairness, the unions did warn us against lowering the tariffs. Ignoring them was all fine and good, until nobody had jobs.

I don't see any hope for this country---the factories will never return, and the U.S. will be service industry only in the future, if that.

I do, we can easily turn this around, if we raised import tarriffs. Manufacturing would come back real quick and the government would have increased revenues to pay down the debt until it did. (That's a con until we have responsible legislators, but let hope this election will change that.)

Reagan's tactic of forcing foreign manufacturers to produce here, also worked. At least the labor component of the goods and the knowledge are retained in the country even if profits are not.

48 posted on 08/03/2012 11:44:11 AM PDT by DannyTN
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To: DannyTN

But we are not exporting our manufacturing capability. It continues to grow at a faster rate than the economy in general. We are about equal to the Chinese (who have 4x our population) and way ahead of whoever is in 3rd place. Plus, as I have noted many times, we are exporting 747s and impotnrting plastic toys and clothing. Big difference.


49 posted on 08/03/2012 11:50:43 AM PDT by InterceptPoint (.)
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To: InterceptPoint
First, You need to adjust manufacturing for inflation.

Anybody who has been to wal-mart or bought consumer electronics, or bought a car lately, knows that we have indeed exported much of our manufacturing capability.

If total manufacturing dollars has continued to grow despite the amount the amount of manufacturing capability that has been transferred overseas, then that's great. But it won't last forever. We have transferred way too much manufacturing capability and the 25% real unemployment rate is evidence of that.

50 posted on 08/03/2012 12:00:33 PM PDT by DannyTN
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To: InterceptPoint
First, You need to adjust manufacturing for inflation.

Anybody who has been to wal-mart or bought consumer electronics, or bought a car lately, knows that we have indeed exported much of our manufacturing capability.

If total manufacturing dollars has continued to grow despite the amount the amount of manufacturing capability that has been transferred overseas, then that's great. But it won't last forever. We have transferred way too much manufacturing capability and the 25% real unemployment rate is evidence of that.

51 posted on 08/03/2012 12:00:46 PM PDT by DannyTN
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To: InterceptPoint
Source
52 posted on 08/03/2012 12:03:59 PM PDT by DannyTN
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To: DannyTN
...And we better figure out how to fight this economic war and quick ...

So many have not yet figured out China is at war with us.

'All warfare is based primarily on the deception of an enemy. Fighting on a battlefield is the most primitive way of making war. There is no art higher than to destroy your enemy without a fight—by SUBVERTING anything of value in the enemy’s country.' Sun Tzu Chinese philosopher 500 B.C.

...And we will probably have to abandon the WTO to put them in place....

Again how many are aware that The fine print in China's WTO agreement was in an attached document euphemistically labeled an "accession agreement," which gave China status as a "nonmarket economy" and spelled out thousands of details about special preferences for China.
53 posted on 08/03/2012 12:15:14 PM PDT by khelus
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To: DannyTN

I’m not talking about manufacturing JOBS. Of course they are on the decline. Computer controlled machines are replacing humans in the manufacturing workplace. But the total manufacturing output grows every year (with possible recent Obama exceptions).

Is that a bad thing? If so, let’s outlaw the use of machines in manufacturing. And let’s go after ATM machines while we’re at it. How many tellers did they put out of work.

Times change. How big was the software industry in the 70’s? How about the cell phone business?


54 posted on 08/03/2012 12:15:24 PM PDT by InterceptPoint (.)
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To: rurgan

Thanks for the ping


55 posted on 08/03/2012 12:18:13 PM PDT by khelus
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To: DannyTN
"Bottom line: there is no net trade imbalance."

That's an overly simplistic way of looking at it. It ignores that if you are importing goods, and exporting your manufacturing capability, that you are liquidating your means of production. And that is "balanced trade" recipe for bankruptcy.


I have heard this aptly referred to as 'selling your seed corn'.
56 posted on 08/03/2012 12:25:29 PM PDT by khelus
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To: InterceptPoint

What does it say about the state of the U.S.A when we the U.S. don’t even have the ability to make our own consumer electronics, clothes, thousands of other consumer industries? It says we we are done and in decline. It’s more efficient for China to buy oil,coal and minerals from Australia, U.S.A and Canada then make manufactured products out of that and ship them all halfway around the world to us the U.S.A. : that is ridiculous when we in the U.S. have unlimited amounts of coal, natural gas, oil shale, oil etc.

WE the U.S.A can’t even make our own consumer electronics nor our own clothes and many other consumer industries. China makes MOST of the consumer electronics that 9 billion people use, 54% of the world’s steel. China has 10 times the number of manufacturing workers than the U.S. has. Most of these China workers work in new modern factories that the U.S.A has never seen the like of. Yet many propagandists here say that the debt ridden U.S. is more productive than China: it’s all lies.


57 posted on 08/03/2012 12:31:35 PM PDT by rurgan (Sunset all laws at 4 years.China is destroying U.S. ability to manufacture,makes everything)
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To: DannyTN
GDP inflation adjusted by a CPI that has inflation suppressing 'enhancements' removed:


58 posted on 08/03/2012 12:32:25 PM PDT by khelus
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To: InterceptPoint

WE the U.S.A can’t even make our own consumer electronics nor our own clothes and many other consumer industries. China makes MOST of the consumer electronics that 9 billion people use, 54% of the world’s steel. China has 10 times the number of manufacturing workers than the U.S. has. Most of these China workers work in new modern factories that the U.S.A has never seen the like of. Yet many propagandists here say that the debt ridden U.S. is more productive than China: it’s all lies.


59 posted on 08/03/2012 12:33:36 PM PDT by rurgan (Sunset all laws at 4 years.China is destroying U.S. ability to manufacture,makes everything)
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To: InterceptPoint
"I’m not talking about manufacturing JOBS. Of course they are on the decline. Computer controlled machines are replacing humans in the manufacturing workplace. But the total manufacturing output grows every year (with possible recent Obama exceptions)."

Automation may account for some jobs, but clearly unless those same machines are stamping "Made in China" on all the goods in the stores, those manufacturing processes are going overseas. And if automation was the only factor, a machine can run as cheaply here as there. Labor is the big difference in the countries. And that has to be big enough to overcome transportation costs. Manufacturing is going overseas, because the labor is cheaper over there and there are no tarriffs to prevent companies from using that labor over our own.

If manufacturing output has managed to show gains, it's managing to show those gains despite major product groups being produced overseas.

It may be the combined effect of automation and overseas outsourcing, that is causing the lost of manufacturing jobs, but clearly if we weren't outsourcing overseas, the unemployment picture would be better.

So raise the tarriffs, and if we still have a high unemployment due to automation alone. Then we can talk about how to address unemployment in an era of super automation.

If china was buying US goods to balance the trade deficit, I'd be less inclined to raise tariffs. But they aren't they are buying equities and debt, and that's not the kind of "balanced" trade we need.

60 posted on 08/03/2012 12:35:51 PM PDT by DannyTN
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