Re: Our Stealth Jobs Boom; By Ashby M. Foote III

On Thu, 14 Sep 2006 20:06:16 -0500, "gumboman" <noemail@xxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:

Do you understand what you are saying here? All the laid off workers at Ford
become EBay entrepreneurs and you think this is a 'good thing'? That's the
whole problem. People can't find jobs MAKING things in this country, or at
least jobs that pay any more than Sam is willing to pay.

From the same commentary:

"The strength and resilience of the American economy
has confounded mainstream economists for the past
several years as it motored through $70 oil, war and
turmoil in the Middle East, Hurricane Katrina, and
17 rate hikes from the Federal Reserve."

As for Ford, their problems are mostly self-inflicted. Many other car
companies are doing quite fine in the United States. A few months
back, I provided an article that pointed out that more cars are now
being built in the United States than were being built during
Detroit's heyday in the 1960s, a time when foreign competition was
trivial. The fact is that there is still plenty being built in the
United States, contrary to what you claim. U.S. exports have really
never been higher. From a recent NYTimes news story:

"The Commerce Department report showed that United States
exports dropped for the first time in four months. But
they were still the second-highest ever, and exports of
consumer goods and auto products set a record."

The trade deficit may be very bad, or it may not be so bad. I recall
Greenspan saying that the trade deficit would systematically
self-correct and that it wouldn't cause severe problems. Regardless
of whether he's correct, the trade deficit is not caused by fewer
things being made in the United States than before. It's a good part
caused by consumers in the United States having disposable income
growing at greater amounts than consumers in other countries, and thus
being able to afford to buy more additional goods from abroad than
those abroad can buy from us. And it's also been caused by investors
in other countries overall preference to invest in the United States.
And of course, the increase in oil prices has contributed to the trade
deficit as well. Though with gasoline prices apparently in a free
fall at the moment, the trade gaps in coming months will probably
decrease, perhaps substantially if the drop in gasoline prices
continues.


.

Relevant Pages

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