Posted on 09/22/2004 10:35:07 PM PDT by Destro
Cost of labor bump!
Raise prices yes, but not higher so the cost of entry (re-starting from the scratch) will be too high for the competition.
A ChiCom Military front company--principally owned by the Red Army generals and the PRC itself.
In the weltanschauung of the US Commerce Department, of course, HW is a fine 'capitalist' company.
This is the outfit which now controls BOTH ends of the Panama Canal.
From yesterday's "Daily Reckoning":
Tom Dyson, from the thriving metropolis that is
Baltimore...
- "I'm Comrade Faber. You are now all members of the
Central Committee of the Communist Party," began a speech
by regular Daily Reckoning contributor Marc Faber.
- Faber was role-playing. He was pretending to be the new
president of the Chinese Communist Party's Central
Committee. It was a cunning ploy to make a point to his
audience.
- "My plan," said Faber, keeping up his appearance as an
imaginary Communist bureaucrat, "is to keep the U.S. dollar
very, very strong."
- According to Faber, there are two overriding reasons why
a strong dollar is desirable for China's administration.
Firstly, he argues, China can strengthen its manufacturing
base by undercutting the U.S. competition. It's a play for
market share using the classic "price war" maneuver.
- Chinese officials then return their dollar earnings back
to the United States and plow them into U.S. government and
agency debt securities. Yields are forced down, and the
great U.S. import binge carries on.
- "One day disaster will strike," concludes our faux-
Communist mouthpiece. "This is a small penalty to pay for
the transfer of technology and manufacturing and
investments into our country."
- The money migration, total economic warfare, beggar thy
neighbor...call it what you will, but it sure ain't good-
natured, wholesome globalization.
- And of course, it's already begun...
- In 2003, reports the AFP this week, China overtook the
United States as the top global destination for foreign
direct investment. Last year, China attracted $53.5 billion
dollars, versus only $30 billion dollars attracted by the
United States. The United States is traditionally the
largest recipient of FDI, but last year's total was so
pathetically low - plunging 53% from the year before and
setting a new 12-year low - that China was able to leapfrog
the United States into the top spot.
- Marc Faber may not be the first person to recognize this
cunning plan by those wily Chinese capitalists. And their
designs may not be purely economic in nature either. Now
Japan wants to classify China as a potential military
threat.
- According to a report from Japan's leading business
newspaper, Nihon Keizai, a 10-member advisory panel will
recommend that Russia be replaced by China as Japan's
mightiest adversary and the most likely to attack.
- "The panel will not call it directly a military threat,"
says Lance Gatling, a U.S. defense consultant, "but the
concern about a conflict between Taiwan and China is quite
real, and Japan is concerned about getting drawn into
that."
- China has been in a defense-spending boom, according to
reports, investing in deep-water navy, more offensive
weapons and reconnaissance satellites. And we find this in
The Washington Times: "China's naval buildup has produced a
new type of attack submarine that U.S. intelligence did not
know was under construction, according to U.S. Defense and
intelligence officials."
Looks like someone ELSE figured out what WilliamofCarmichael, WillieGreen, and I have been harping about for the last several months, or longer.
As long as you maintain that Economics is the God, you will be wrong. Western civilization was built with higher aspirations than slavery to 'the invisible hand,' and REAL conservatives understand that, unlike the faux-conservatives whose dollar fixation resembles that of the fixation on Britney Spears as 'a musician.'
Not only does it miss the point, it's not even in the same ballpark.
LCR mentions that a devalued dollar is a good thing, which is true, but does NOT explain the continuing trade deficit despite the erosion of the dollar against the euro over the last two years.
He also ignores energy import costs, which have been trending with the euro/dollar line, not surprisingly.
He further forgets to mention the artificial peg of the yuan to the dollar, making PRChina invulnerable to dollar-devaluation. See my above post from 'Daily Reckoning' for the obvious implication of the artificial peg.
So yes, in theory, the devalued dollar is supposed to be a good thing. But in the real world it ain't necessarily so.
FWIW, Kerry's been part of the problem. He voted for NAFTA and PNTR, and has always favored the mulitnational interests; he's crap on immigration, too.
So you get to choose between Bush's benign neglect which assumes (dangerously) that China will become civilized by virtue of having some wealth--or Kerry's utter vapidity and demonstrated sellouts of US labor.
Wow.
Not necessarily.
There's a real possibility of DEFLATION, as the consumer debt-service requirements begin to conflict with energy costs and the (demonstrated) gradual decline of average US private-industry weekly earnings.
So, for example, housing could see a price decline--which would have very significant effects on the banking system.
Since FannieMae and FreddieMac are already a bit precariously-balanced, it might not be fun to watch.
Mark Zandi, chief economist at Economy.com, a West Chester, Pa., research firm, agrees that new hiring is slower than expected because of offshore activity. He said work will return to the nation over time, as wages rise in developing countries, and as foreign companies look to hire skilled American workers. But, Zandi said, ''Right now and for the foreseeable future, we're probably losing more jobs than we're gaining in this process of globalization."
Mark Zandi, chief economist at Economy.com, a West Chester, Pa., research firm, agrees that new hiring is slower than expected because of offshore activity. He said work will return to the nation over time, as wages rise in developing countries, and as foreign companies look to hire skilled American workers. But, Zandi said, ''Right now and for the foreseeable future, we're probably losing more jobs than we're gaining in this process of globalization."
Bump that!
That's more true of the income tax and the property tax. Why is a company hiring Americans penalized by having to pay into so many taxes? Social Security tax, Medicare tax, income tax --- and much of that higher salary an American makes will go for income tax and extremely high property taxes. Remember --- a Chinese might work for $2000 a year --- but $2000 a year is only going to cover half of a typical American's property tax on his house.
We cannot possibly continue supporting a government the size of ours with out jobs.
"Cost of labor bump!"
"A recent survey was done, in Europe and Japan, of the major corporations and I was astounded at the results. They were asked, 'If the US abolished its income tax and went to a sales tax, would that have any impact on your decisions?' Eighty percent of the corporations said they would build their factories in the United States of America. Twenty percent said they would move their international headquarters to the United States of America."
(Former) Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee,
Rep. Bill Archer (R-TX)
Speaking in his Congressional District in Houston, TX - August 12, 1996
Thanks for the post.
However, super-capitalists don't care who wins the war as long as there is profit to be made.
>So, for example, housing could see a price decline--which
>would have very significant effects on the banking system.
Housing is almost guaranteed to see a price decline as a result of the factors you state and what I see as higher interest rates down the road.
However, regardless of what consumer debt levels rise to, people cannot live without a certain baseline of products. As any visit to a local Wal-mart will tell you, more and more of these products are imported from overseas. And therefore the natural result of a weaker dollar is inflation...
...however, note that all inflation isn't caught by the CPI. For instance, when you go to the supermarket in 1980 and buy a 128 ounce bottle of detergent for $5.99 and go to the supermarket in 1990 and buy a 65 ounch bottle of the same detergent for $5.99, you have 100% inflation.
However, the CPI sees this as 0% inflation.
China has repeatedly stated that they would engage in asymetric warfare to bring down the United States. Economic warfare is one facet.
Neoliberal free traders don't about the death of nations(even their own) as long as the market keeps expanding because they see the market as everything-- economic and social.
Thanks for your post, its right on the mark!
Hey Hedgetrimmer, was BrucefromMtVernon - in post #57 - right on the Marx mark too? An idiot "free traitor" - like myself - who views the market as a God and who thinks that the Heritage Foundation is a conservative think-tank wants to know?
Yep. I've been doing my harping on a related thread: China beats US as top investor choice
Only part of the price we'll pay for supporting Red china by thinking we need cheap shit...But hey, it's good for america. < /sarcasm >
is that true today? even college educated kids are still living at home with their parents in many cases.
I believe it still happens. However it is becoming increasingly more difficult because I feel that today's primary education system is not preparing our youth for life as well as it once did. Although it does seem to be advancing mathematical concepts much earlier that it used to. I think that the problem that you see stem more from laziness, lack of drive, or chronic depression. I especially see it here in this very thread. We are doing thing today that we couldn't even imagine 15 years ago. I see life as better than it ever was. Apparently many others either don't see it or they like life better as it was in the past. How many people on this thread can actually write that they are motivated to do better because of competition? How many people here are frightened by competition. I know that the answers are not simply cut and dry and involve varying degrees of complexities. But, one either leans toward answering one way or the other if pressed to answer truthfully. Which way is it for you?
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