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“Me too. If we didn’t have free global markets for international commodities, 3rd world nations would have be prevented from selling basic commodities, foods and raw materials, thus increasing poverty in those nations. More is done to support third world development from supporting free markets than anything else.â€
What about quinoa? I read today that the price of that very nutritious food has gone up so much due to global demand that the people living in the Andes can no longer afford to buy it and have turned to processed foods. That stinks.
I have said this before, but it is worth repeating: the media-induced fear over China’s economic prowess is overblown. As a country, China has done remarkably well in grabbing a major share of worldwide manufacturing. However, as both Kens and I said above, manufacturing is an increasingly small share of the wealth that is generated today. The money is in product marketing (conception, research, design, etc.), distribution and associated services (ever notice how eager electronics stores like PC Richards are to sell you a service package?).
The key in this wealth creation is to create brands that the market can trust. If we take Japan, for instance, they quickly went from being a low-cost manufacturer to a producer of high-quality brands that people trust to this day: Toyota, Sony, etc.
I believe that the China has certain weaknesses that will significantly impair their ability to create these strong brands. If you want to read up on this issue, read the book “Trust” by Francis Fukuyama.
Note that despite its success, most Americans cannot still name one Chinese brand off the tip of their tongues. That is not an accident.
“money is fake, we make it up, so why can’t we create a system that works for everyone? ”
Generally the more money we make up, the less that money is worth.â€
I know, I know.
I guess pondering the fact that us humans create the notion of money and wealth means that we have the ability to do things differently than how we’ve been told that we have to. That’s all I was trying to do this am – work through some thoughts that I had kinda just shut down on the assumption that globalism is the only way to go.
Dona I know someone with lupus. She and her now ex had a baby a while ago. He came out of the closet to her after they got married but before they had the baby. Yet they still had the baby (because they thought they could chase the gay demons away or something?? who knows). Now he lives in the basement and dates guys and they are otherwise amicable. They live in Massachusetts.
Lech: I owe my job to international trade.
Me too. If we didn’t have free global markets for international commodities, 3rd world nations would have be prevented from selling basic commodities, foods and raw materials, thus increasing poverty in those nations. More is done to support third world development from supporting free markets than anything else.
The United States, by the way, is the 800 pound gorilla in the agricultural markets and we have a very robust farmer support system and we are constantly calibrating the absolute maximum as to how far we can go providing incentives to support local agriculture and becoming protectionist. As it is, we will probably be brought to the World Trade Organization (the police for free trade) for our policies for ethanol protectionism.
The next hot-spot for low-cost production is Vietnam.
Rigth, etson. Most manufacturers do not consider China “low cost.” They have the skills and the infrastructure.
Donatella;
Thanks for that info!
“money is fake, we make it up, so why can’t we create a system that works for everyone? ”
Generally the more money we make up, the less that money is worth.