Saturday, December 04, 2004

BUSHONOMICS MADE SIMPLE. The New York Times' James Brooke and Keith Bradsher explain one of the effects of the trade deficit, a longtime problem that has been exacerbated by the Bush administration's irresponsible fiscal policies:

[O]fficials at the State Administration of Foreign Exchange in Beijing have been seeking higher yields by plowing billions of dollars a month into bonds backed by mortgages on houses across the United States, according to bankers who help Beijing manage the money. By helping keep mortgage rates from rising, China has come to play an enormous and little-noticed role in sustaining the American housing boom.

Keep that in mind the next time you're wondering why the White House won't criticize China's appalling human-rights record.

Be sure to read the last two paragraphs. At least there's something to laugh about.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

C'mon Dan. Be reasonable.

That Times article was the first thing I read this morning. My conclusion this afternoon? You are misinformed, Kennedy.

There are two long-ranging problems in the US that have brought us to this situation:

1) You and your ilk on the left have taxed and regulated American business to death. The result? American manufacturing has left the building. We produce NOTHING in the US. NOTHING! (See the piece in the Times biz section on the IBM laptop for evidence). Do you know how tough it is to actually make something in this country? Do you realize all the government hurdles you have to leap over? Do you realize these hurdles take time and money? Do you realize that small companies have little time and money? This exodus has been occuring for 20 years now. All we've become is a market and, if you read that Times piece with a cricial eye, the Asians hold the strings as to how long that will last. We're quickly becoming a nation that sells only entertainment and hamburgers to each other. Think about it.

2)The liberals have ruined US schools. What is the result of this? Instead of rigid coursework where students are drilled constantly on mathematics and science, we have what? Self esteem classes, sex ed, diversity. Are any of these things bad? Of course not -- but they've come at the expense of fundamentals needed to compete with other countries in the international marketplace. We have only a few engineers, a few students interested in science, a few kids who understand complex math. Now, is this totally the fault of the schools? Of course not, but they hold some of the responsibility. A lot of the rest I can chalk up to the fact that there's an inherent bias against math in US culture. The common misperception is that only "geniuses" and "nerds" are good at math and science. There's no encouragement in those areas that require discipline. The result? No engineers. No engineers? No manufacturing, lesser amounts of innovation, fewer new technologies. The impact? China owns us.

You blame a trade deficit? You blame Bush? Are you nuts? That's the best you can do? You make human rights an excuse so you feel better. If China improves its human rights record tomorrow, we're still screwed on Monday.

C'mon Dan! You're ridiculous!

Anonymous said...

Nothing short of tariffs or quotas can make up for the undervalued Asian currencies. Yeah, we can improve our schools and deregulate and cut taxes and what not, but at the end of the day we'd still be undersold by China, Japan, and the other Asian economies.

DK is not ridiculous.

Anonymous said...

You missed the point. The reason there's a trade deficit is because we barely make anything of value. Tariffs won't change that fact.

We need an environment where business can occur and educated people who can actually generate real value.

Anonymous said...

Like everyone else who lives and works here in America, I'm well aware that outsourcing is a major problem. You're not the first finger-pointing blogger/columnist who is not actually looking for the solutions and consequently simply blames outsourcing on the Chinese or Indian populace (or whomever) or the current administration in Washington.

The find-someone-currently-in-power-who-we-don't-like-to-blame based logic in the article which inspired this thread, offers absolutely no solutions at all to the problem at hand here...

If you're going to fault in anyone for outsourcing; blame those who sold us the Not Actually Fair to Americans trade agreement and the voters who stood by and didn't do squat to stop it; don't blame either the Chinese who benefit from it - or the current administration, who inherited it.

NAFTA was a criminal joke played on us and unfortunately, most of America slept through the debate, and now the joke is on they who ignored what was coming as well as not holding those who passed the law responsible for this charade...

The senators and congressman who supported NAFTA and consequently flushed our grandchildren's futures down the toilet - got off Scott-free. The jobs that have been removed from our economy and that will not return. Blaming the Chinese working people or to suggest that these workers are in any way responsible for the 'outsourcing' problem' - is not my view, and will not help the situation or contribute in any way to solving the problem.

Americans have only their voting record to blame for being (and continuing to be) asleep at the switch at the voting booth. My suggestion for the angry torch-bearing mobs that seem to want to gather against the Chinese (or Indian) people is to direct their anger at their own apathy during NAFTA legislative process and vote the congressman and senators who supported it out of office.

It's always easier to play "Sneer at the Foreigners" and point the finger at someone random, who 'benefits' from our losses than it is to come up with the solution to any problem. Rounding up the 'usual suspects' is not going to 'bring back the jobs,' either. And it is human nature never to blame 'ourselves' for anything, especially when we are angry or worried about what the future brings...

If some solution is not searched for and found the entire United States is bound to suffer the same exact fate as Detroit did after the automobile and truck manufacturers packed up the factories and drove south... This was another consequence you can assuredly blame on their lawmakers (as well as the voters) who lived there and did nothing in the 1970's until it was too late, and then short-sightedly blamed the Mexicans workers for 'taking their jobs.'

In both cases these jobs were not 'Taken away'
They were 'Sold down the river'
Thanks to Senator Sellouts & Congressman Conjobs
And the John Q. Apathetic voters who stood by and did nothing.