[OFB Cafe] lightening

[Peter Hollings]

Hi, Terence, no offense intended. Wish I could share your optimism about 
the economy.  Take a look at http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig9/quinn5.html .

Comparative advantage is a useful concept when considering things like 
resource costs, but aren't we really dealing here with labor cost 
arbitrage? And what about the transitional costs that comparative 
advantage ignores? Have the gains from cheap Chinese imports at Wallmart 
exceeded the costs of lost jobs and have the winners compensated the 
losers? It seems to me that if we cannot produce something that others 
want to buy and if we continue to run a trade deficit then we will 
ultimately have to sell off our hard assets to foreigners.

Peter

saki wrote:
> Peter Hollings top-posted:
>   
>> <snip>  The American
>> way of life is being destroyed. <snip>We are
>> managed like a herd of sheep, herded towards a goal established without
>> our knowledge or consent.
>>
>> Unless we break this cycle we will continue to function like serfs.
>>
>>     
>
> Actually,  Peter, it was a joke (or at least, an attempt at a joke, 
> prompted by the juxtaposition of Patrick's- to me- justified unhappiness 
> with his expected medical cover, and his disire to go hunting).
>
> However I don't think the "American Way of Life" (tm) is likely to be 
> destroyed. There were no employee benefits in the building of the 
> country until the 20th century (at least other than very small, very few 
> schemes, affecting very few workers), and "the way West" was rugged 
> individualism, not unionised, anonymous muscle.
>
> I think America's strengths will continue, no matter where your cars and 
> television sets come from.
>
> In any case, comparative economic advantage will continue to dictate the 
> way commerce works globally, in the same way we all look for bargains 
> and low prices when shopping locally.
>
> My tuppence worth!
>
> Terence
>
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