I actually went through a Walmart once to see if I could find something made in the U.S. Have you ever tried this? It's an exercise in frustration at best. Not saying there's nothing American made there, but I'll bet its less than 5%. "assembled in the US" doesn't count.
Ha, sure if there wasnt that needle,called envy and arrogance , stuck in the arm of the average American consumer. What a sweet but powerful drug it is to have to possess everything and more than the neigbor next door. By the way that "excess crap" that is pumped out of China are the very same products that were, are, and will be demanded by your average Joe on the street in the US. As long as its CHEAP, Joe can put up with anything, and hey, even 50% more expensive is still cheap by Joe's standards.
Go to a Supercenter and look at the food & drug sections. Also, DVDs are typically made in Mexico. Outside of Wal-mart, auto parts are again made in Mexico. I bought a timing belt recently, it was made in Italy. So, not everything is made in China.
How that worked out? Well for one, Japan has got the highest savings rate in the world, no worries to end up on the street, everyone is covered by mandatory health insurance, Japan still spots the biggest bank by deposits in the world, Japan remains as stable as it gets, despite the turmoil in the world annd despite the fact Japan is a heavily export oriented economy. That Japanese dont measure their prosperity by how the Nikkei index performed since 1984 is something you simply need to accept. Prosperity and well being is not measured only by financial metrics that the US tried to impose on the rest of the world. So, lets take a look where the US ended up. A huge volatile roller coaster with leaving millions of people behind. 45 million Americans dont even have health insurance coverage, millions of people live below the powerty line, the country so deep in debt it remains doubtful it will be able to ever get out of this within the next 30 years, almost making it certain that China will shake hands with the US on even an equal economic footing in no more than 15-20 years. Then you get a country which has ruined the prosperity in many other parts of the world as well by excessive risk taking of a few who get away with nothing. How'd that work out? -> Well, I would say it worked out pretty well for the average Japanese I would say, a hell of a lot better than for the average American, to say the least. And by the way, Japanese companies and individuals still own a lot of America's premier golf courses plus have pretty much killed the complete American car competition. Can this be said of McDonalds in Japan? Hardly so...any more examples? ...back to China...
I'd prefer repatriation of production, but would much rather it occurred through a combination of tax breaks indexed to manhours per unit of production for onshore entities and tariffs for imported goods. On the one hand it would stem the race to the bottom that's going on when it comes to labor costs, be it off-shore labor or automation. Properly balanced it would drive up product quality, which is the real differentiator we should be striving for.
Free trade: equals competitave advantage. (Look up the definition if you do not understand Competitave advantage.) OBAMA is giving hi oath to the UNIONS not Free Trade or capitalism. The "low grade" tire market, which is a very small % of US production, is the arena. In fact, US tire makers and Euro Tiremakers gave up that nitch to the China Companies a while ago. They Euro and American companies were loosing money in that market due to cost margins. The US is not strong enough right now to start a trade war or wars. Obama is a protectionist, but yet he send our tax money to Brazil Petro for their discovery of Oil. OBAMA must be put out of office in 2012 and the Dems must be thrown outa office in 2010 if Capitialism is going to survive. The next step after a trade war is Depression. Bank failuers happen through out history and a Depression does not have to follow. However, if you fuck up Global Trade, which is key to our economic system now....thanks to a consumer based economy....you kill the country. How the fuck this idiot ever became president is a mind fuck in and of itself.
You might try reading the link next time, you farkin' twit... "Modern English, sometimes described as the first global lingua franca,[13][14] is the dominant international language in communications, science, business, aviation, entertainment, radio and diplomacy." "A working knowledge of English has become a requirement in a number of fields, occupations and professions such as medicine and computing; as a consequence over a billion people speak English to at least a basic level (see English language learning and teaching). It is also one of six official languages of the United Nations." "However, when combining native and non-native speakers it is probably the most commonly spoken language in the world, though possibly second to a combination of the Chinese languages (depending on whether or not distinctions in the latter are classified as "languages" or "dialects")." "Because English is so widely spoken, it has often been referred to as a "world language", the lingua franca of the modern era.[14] While English is not an official language in most countries, it is currently the language most often taught as a second language around the world."
Dude, your agenda is showing... My comment was relative to the economy, not the people. Back in the 80's everyone expected Japan to overtake the U.S. as an economic power. Didn't happen. What did, was decades of stagnation that has got so bad that the ruling party that created their particular mess was voted out in the last election. Also, as far as government debt goes, instead of comparing notional values try comparing the percentages to GDP. Japan is far and away the largest debt to GDP country out there. As far as how well off the population is, let's see how things pan out now that the export nation (heavily dependent on guess who...) feels the pinch. Toyota posting their first ever loss is but a canary in that coal mine...
buddy fact is most people speak natively Chinese, then Spanish, then possibly English. No matter how you twist it. Dont dont play with words, e.g. native/non native. Everyone is aware that more people learn English as second or third langage vs Chinese. Given you said "you could not be wronger on this..." you look pretty stupid.
some of you American guys are so filty of arrogance, it really stinks beyond imagination. If you cant make your argument in the past you point everyone to the present. If it does not work in the present you point to the past or future. If someone makes an argument about the future you point to the past. Laughable. I never commented on what I think Japan may have become in the late 80s. So why the fuxx do you bring it up? I dont care what some people thought about this. The point was that you cannot accept the reality that while the US has been and still is an economic superpower its importance in the world in regards to trade, reserve currency, political power, even military power has been decreasing for years now and no change in trend is within eyesight. You seem to be having an increadibly hard time to accept this truth. But hey, why dont you guide us to the good ol times so we can all feel good... Seriously, your country's politcal and economic leaders have just fucked up their and others' economies big time, if someone should shut up about taking about the advantages of their own political and economical system then its guys like you!!!