After discovering that I need to check my toothpaste to make sure it’s not made in China, that was the first question to pop into my head. Of course, I already know the answer - money & politics.
Completely setting aside the money/politics aspect of it, there really isn’t any other reason we can’t make just about anything in the US. I’ve tried in the past (and still do) to buy things that are made locally and/or in the US - and fail miserably most of the time.
Not that product contaminations and such can’t happen in the US, because they do, but I am getting a little tired of the crap coming out of China at the moment.
June 2nd, 2007 - 1:45 pm
Of course we could make everything there–but if it costs 1/10 as much to make it overseas, it’s getting made overseas and shipped here. Simple economics.
I just wish we’d stop being so buddy-buddy with China in light of their position on Taiwan.
June 2nd, 2007 - 1:48 pm
Yeah, like i said, I know it’s money &politics.
China’s MFN status is the biggest piece of crap I have ever seen.
June 2nd, 2007 - 1:53 pm
All comes down to the almighty dollar. (The one we spend billions of, on a war that The People don’t want.)
June 2nd, 2007 - 2:23 pm
Yeah, not real thrilled with that other spending pattern there, either.
June 2nd, 2007 - 8:10 pm
Guns and butter. Competitive advantage, it’s all ECON 101. (Well, actually, ECON 102, because 101 is typically intro to micro and 102 is intro to macro, and this is a macro concept.)
Producing everything in America is a bad idea. Why should we waste our skilled workforce on producing such things as toothpaste and basic clothing, when we have the technology, infrastructure, and skilled labor able to produce computers and cars and the like. Then we get to trade. Everyone wins. Look up the “Law of Comparative Advantage” in the Wiki - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparative_advantage
(NOT trying to sound like I’m lecturing, you just hit on an economic point that I actually understand pretty well and can actually explain!)