I think Hong Kong would an excellent model if say, Seattle, were to become an independent country. I'm not sure its unique attributes however can be scaled up to the size of our country. Certainly they have polciies, like their tax system, that we could profitably emulate. Much of their success however can be explained by sweatshop labor that would not be tolerated here or by the need for companies to have a base for mainland chinese operations. And a population of incredibly entreprenurial people.
Hong Kong most of the time has been on the receiving end of outsourcing unlike America. Hong Kong runs trade surpluses while America runs huge trade deficits. It's a small country (7mln people) with no superpower ambitions, one or two industries that can't be outsourced are enough to sustain their standard of living and that's exactly what they have - they provide regional financial, insurance, travel and OUTSOURCING services. None of that is applicable to America.
We spend on tanks and wars they spend on public education and healthcare. Gosh, I wonder who will come out ahead in the long run.
We'll come out ahead of course. I don't see how their math, physics, chemistry skills and even perfect health can possibly save them from a well-aimed bunker buster bomb.
I'd like to pay $2.25 for a pair of no-name tennis shoes at Wal-Mart, and put them on my 6 year old - who grows out of them anyway. Protectionists, I think, miss the value of the retained income that's not spent on shoes. We're all richer. I know that shoe is out there, and that price is out there for me, but some social-engineer-genius gets in the middle of the transaction. As far as what jobs we'll have, how much of our economy is entertainment and leisure? 15%? Within my lifetime (baby boomer), we've wondered what we'd do when all of our fine textiles and cars (Gremlins, Pacers) were made in Japan. If you told a person in 1964 that we'd make up for it in services, entertainment and leisure, he'd probably throw his monkey wrench at you. But here we are, the richest country in the world. And our prosperity is due, by and large, to innovation, and "pushing the ball up the field." Our prosperity has not come from protectionism, and therefore does not rely on it.
while I can appreciate the part about the $2 tennis shoes... ....you're simply quite incorrect in the part quoted above. Our so-called "prosperity" is due to DEBT man...DEBT DEBT DEBT....and ever-more DEBT ! like....about 100 TRILLION worth of DEBT. In other words, we haven't PAID for any of this 'prosperity'....and the REALITY is that we are NOT a prosperous country. In no way are the "the richest country in the world". In fact, we are THE number-one debtor nation now. All in the past 40 yrs too. Further, the things you mention as our "strengths" are the very things which are most easily outsourced! None of that "innovation" is unique to the US. Stem cells? Russia High-speed trains? Europe and Japan Electronics design? Asia Software? India and Russia Financial and backoffice? ANYWHERE etc. etc..
Oh, AAA, you defeatist. This is all turning out exactly as it should. We will have a few global plutocrats who are rich beyond imagining and everyone else can go to hell. These people feel no loyalty to anything but their own dynasty. Patriotism, like religion, is designed to keep the masses under control. It's hard to find reasons to feel patriotic these days, if you do more than just swallow the swill spewed out by our politicians and media. We see most of these issues from opposite sides. You just happen to be wrong. m
By neocon standards, he's a damned leftist, just like Paul O'Neill and anyone else who points out that our emperor has no clothes. m