No, I am NOT arguing that the American middle class priced itself out of business. I thought I made that very clear. I am arguing that the American blue-collar, WORKING class, manufacturing workers priced themselves out of business, GM being a case in point. The price Americans are willing to pay for manufactured goods is not as high as the workers’ expectations. May I assume you would close the country to all imports in order to rectify this situation, even if it meant doubling or tripling the price of everything we consume?
No, I would not close the door to imports - but I would give some thought to the REAL cost of those “irrestible bargains” !
Let’s say I can buy an imported guitar for $300 less than an American-made Martin: not quite as good, but a heckuva lot cheaper. What happens to the workers over at the Martin factory who lost their jobs ?
They draw unemployment for a while(at a cost to the public) and then-if they’re lucky,find lesser paying jobs-which contribute less to the economy and to the tax base : degrading the overall quality of life.
(To add insult to injury, the import I bought doesn’t hold up very well, and probably won’t be handed down to my great grand children.)
This might be of interest. The blog author is a Baptist missionary re-visiting Nicaragua, and is related to my late wife. I check his blog from time to time, and saw this a few minutes ago:
http://gregkynast.blogspot.com/2009/06/nicaragua2009-day-4.html