The Fundamentals of the American Economy Are Sound.

[Gonad]

Yeah, that was pretty dumb.

 

[Sadistic Bastard]

When we lost it:

When we stopped making the tools that make other tools.

For example: The robots that put chips and other parts on printed circuit boards (that are inside everything from computers to cell phones to bombs). There used to be several US companies that built this equipment. All are gone. If you need a new pick and place machine, you go to Korea or China (Japanese designed, but they are stopping the actual production in Japan too due to labor costs).

Same with steel, or just about any other heavy industry you can think of.

All we build domestically now are Aircraft, Aircraft Carriers (because the Government supplements the ship-yard), Submarines (ditto), and entertainment. Cars are going away...we loose that and ALL of our consumer production is pretty much down to the cottage industry level.

And after that...it's all just an "import economy"...until the money runs out (and I can see the light from that particular oncoming freight-train now).

(SIGH)

Sucks having a brain and being an American.

-SB

 

[Marquis De Sade]

When we lost it:

When we stopped making the tools that make other tools.

Not at all. The era of extensive capitalization (marked by long production processes) is what caused the 1930 crisis. When the crux of your economy is about "making the tools that make other tools", it'll work for a while, then your economy implode, which is exactly what it did.

For example: The robots that put chips and other parts on printed circuit boards (that are inside everything from computers to cell phones to bombs). There used to be several US companies that built this equipment. All are gone. If you need a new pick and place machine, you go to Korea or China (Japanese designed, but they are stopping the actual production in Japan too due to labor costs).

If we're talking about low-cost, everyday chips, then they're better off being produced in China/Korea. Producing them in the States is obsolete.


As for hi-tech chips, they don't require that much of a physical capital. Rather, they're the result of concentrating creative capacities. The USA learnt this lesson well in the early nineties, and the Government(s) spent a lot, investing in think-tanks, Silicon Valley, etc. America is still investing a whole lot in R&D, but perhaps the priorities have shifted to politics rather than the economy, resulting in a general lack of economic direction in the USA during the past decade.

Same with steel, or just about any other heavy industry you can think of.

All we build domestically now are Aircraft, Aircraft Carriers (because the Government supplements the ship-yard), Submarines (ditto), and entertainment. Cars are going away...we loose that and ALL of our consumer production is pretty much down to the cottage industry level.

And after that...it's all just an "import economy"...until the money runs out (and I can see the light from that particular oncoming freight-train now).

(SIGH)

Sucks having a brain and being an American.

-SB

Your argument would have been valid 98 years ago. It must suck living in 2009 for you.

 

[Volpone]

Intellectual property is where its at. Of course that kind of sucks for 95% of people, because in the past, the Atlases needed factory workers to realize their goals.

I guess they still need factories, only now the factories can just as easily be in Vietnam or India. :bergman:

Oh, and the stock market? Up almost 500 points yesterday, it took a shit for 115 points today. Still a net gain, but much less to crow about.