Sometimes I have to agree with the Trump True Believers, it seems that many liberals would be happier if things were going worse for the citizens of America. This VOX piece regarding the Black Unemployment rate seems to want to down play how great the record low rate is.
Of course the Conservatives did the same thing when Obama was President, so I assume this is just something that tribal members do.
Life should be good for us today, I mean we have low taxes, high spending, large borrowing, cheap polluting energy, etc. I am more concerned regarding the long term consequences of our living large on the "credit card".
Of course the Conservatives did the same thing when Obama was President, so I assume this is just something that tribal members do.
Life should be good for us today, I mean we have low taxes, high spending, large borrowing, cheap polluting energy, etc. I am more concerned regarding the long term consequences of our living large on the "credit card".
The problem really is underemployment, along with wages that are too low. Neither the Obama nor the Trump administrations have done much about these central problems.
ReplyDelete--Hiram
What do you think the government can do about wages?
ReplyDeletePlease remember that it is our consumers who decide what is purchased and from where.
And it is our citizens who decide their personal level of education, skills, effort, etc.
Now I guess Trump is trying to accomplish something with:
- business tax cuts
- regulation cuts
- tariffs and trade deals
- removing illegal workers
All of these may help to create US jobs and reduce the number of US workers, which should push wages up. However if the US consumers continue to buy products and services from low cost countries to save a few bucks it will all be for naught.
ReplyDeleteWhat do you think the government can do about wages?
Protect workers' right to bargain collectively. Wages are low because of the decline of unions.
Businesses are using tax cuts to buy back stock, not invest in expansion. You can cut regulation, but cutting what regulation does is a different matter. And who know what the effect of regulation cuts. By cutting banking regulations, the government is working toward the next financial collapse, where the net effect on jobs will probably be negative.
By removing workers, we are lowering productivity.
Republicans are bad for the economy, and it's not just bad luck, it's for a reason. Think of Trump, a successful businessman who has cost the economy billions and billions of dollars.
--Hiram
Hiram,
ReplyDeleteAmerican consumers reward companies and countries who can give them the best value. (ie low price, high quality, good looking, durable, etc)
Unfortunately collective bargaining, unions, costly regulations, etc do not improve the value of high American content products and services.
Therefore the consumers keep rewarding foreign countries, companies, workers, etc, and punishing US workers. This is what killed the private sector manufacturing unions.
So the big question is How do we encourage American consumers to "Buy American"?
ReplyDeleteAnd how do we encourage them to even pay a bit extra to companies who support American workers?
Instead of striving to save a few bucks buying from companies that provide high foreign content products and services?
Please note that even one of our last bastions of American Made is falling slowly but surely.
ReplyDeleteCabelas Tractors
I mean Cabelas will make more on these South Korean tractors, the customers will get more for their money, however more jobs will leave North America...
How again are stronger US Unions and more Regulations going to help?
How do we encourage American consumers to "Buy American?
ReplyDeleteFirst, we need to ask whether that is a goal we should have. Is it good for America if we buy American? The yes answer to this question went out of favor in the 18th century as people like Adam Smith discovered the wonders of capitalism. Later on, other economists explored the ideas of comparative advantage. These concepts are now the basis of Econ 101. But were they wrong? Donald Trump thinks so, and he hasn't gone bankrupt in over a decade.
--Hiram
Hiram,
ReplyDeleteIt is too bad that you rarely if ever expose what you personally think, feel, believe... Instead you escape to history or attacking Trump. :-(
A simple reality is that is hard for an economy to pay folks well when those folks insist on sending that income to a different economy for things that can be bought in our economy.
The good news is that all this wealth transfer between economies is growing the middle class in China and other countries, the challenge is if we can provide something they need at their price / value point? Or if they will happily buy from their local suppliers that we choose to import from.
An example, for years my customers and friends from China would buy I phones when they visited the US. They were cheaper here for some reason. Now there is a China manufacturer who builds a great phone in China and they no longer ask about I phones when they visit.
I often wonder what we will trade with them when they catch up technologically?
A simple reality is that is hard for an economy to pay folks well when those folks insist on sending that income to a different economy for things that can be bought in our economy.
ReplyDeleteThis is an argument economists loved in 1750 but has been out of favor more recently. But Trump is working hard to bring it back. The conventional wisdom, now under assault, is that trade benefits both parties. Maybe they got it right back in the 18th century, and we can expect a return to the widespread use of leeches in the practice of medicine.
A more general observation. We live in an economically interdependent world. It really is hard even to conceptualize a system where there are separate economies trading with each other. The global economy is much more unified than that.
--Hiram