February 21, 2004
NEWS FROM THE COLONIES:
Staring Into the Mouth of the Trade Deficit (ELIZABETH BECKER, 2/21/04, NY Times)
Huge container ships steam into this port every day loaded with clothes and shoes, furniture and video games, electronics and aircraft parts made in Asia.On their return trip, those same ships often cross the Pacific half empty, bearing chemicals, meat, grain and engines and routinely stuffed with hay or scrap paper.
"This is what the nation's trade imbalance really looks like," said Mark Knudsen, the deputy director of the Port of Seattle.
Similarly, in an earlier age, the more developed nations imported raw materials from their colonies but had nothing to ship them in return that they wanted and could afford (other than opium to China). The only difference is that now we also have these colonies assemble the raw materials into finished goods for us. Posted by Orrin Judd at February 21, 2004 10:50 PM
The US gets autos, clothing, DVD players, TVs, computers, food, etc.
In return, we offer them scraps of colored paper, the value of which fluctuates, and which can be made near worthless at America's whim.
Sounds like nearly as good a deal as the Manhattan Isle agreement.
Posted by: Michael Herdegen at February 22, 2004 4:24 AM"Sounds like nearly as good a deal as the Manhattan Isle agreement"
The Chinese agree.
Posted by: M at February 22, 2004 7:15 AMMichael
Ah, hey wait a minute, Americans have their wealth tied up in those "scraps of colored paper". Say it ain't so.
Old Story. If I owe you a thousand dollars, its my problem. If I owe you a million dollars, its your problem.
Posted by: Robert Schwartz at February 22, 2004 11:13 PMNote: making dollars worthless to spite Chinese who hold some of their wealth in it is not a good idea when at the same time it destroys the wealth of 98%+ of Americans who hold ALL their wealth in it.
Posted by: Chris Durnell at February 23, 2004 11:35 AMWe needn't repudiate debt held by Americans.
Posted by: oj at February 23, 2004 11:51 AM