/Detroit

[southsider2k5]

This is a great concept, and it's one I try to do, but be honest...you're saying that the only way for America to have good jobs is if people make irrational economic decisions.

 

Paying too much for a product out of patriotic desire cannot be the basis for a sound economy.

 

But being forced to pay more for nothing so that someone who made irrational economic decisions can receive the benefits is the basis for a sound economy?

[southsider2k5]

"It's American workers' own fault and not the hugely increased mobility of capital that wages are depressed and jobs are offshored or eliminated" is a pretty interesting argument that avoid addressing the shift in the distribution of the huge levels of prosperity we still collectively have. It's not as if the wealth is draining from the US, it's just that fewer and fewer people are capturing bigger and bigger portions of it, and the rest of us suffer as a result of that. It also ignores that this is cyclical--as your wages stagnate or fall, you need to find cheaper goods to purchase. Those purchases will further depress or eliminate domestic wages, which means those workers are buying cheaper things as well, and those might be the things you produce. Now your wages are depressed even further, etc.

 

The idea that we can save domestic manufacturing jobs by having large numbers of consumers socially conscious in their shopping has the same flaws as other social-consumer movements. There's far too much individual planning, information gathering, tracking, assessment, and long-term thinking for it to be a realistic method of becoming the dominate model in a given industry. There will always be US-made, environmentally friendly, socially conscious, etc. companies that can occupy niches, but they can't really become industry leaders. There's far too many forces (economical and basic psychological/cognitive) forces pushing in the opposite direction. Hell, just trying to remember what seafood is sustainably fished is a giant pain in the ass, and that's just one food source.

 

Can't someone else do it?

[StrangeSox]

Can't someone else do it?

 

Great, informative, relevant answer.

[southsider2k5]

Great, informative, relevant answer.

 

Sorry I didn't have a Stewart clip.

[Balta1701]

Sorry I didn't have a Stewart clip.

Great informative, relevant answer.

[southsider2k5]

Great informative, relevant answer.

 

Exactly.

[StrangeSox]

How is "can't someone else do it?" responsive to anything I said in that post?

 

(btw when was the last time anyone posted a TDS clip here?)

[lostfan]

Here's idea #1, if you want to keep high paying jobs around, support them. Pretty much every single failed industry in the United States is a result of one of two things. #1 Technology making it obsolete. #2 People supporting cheaper versions of American industries leading to its failure. If you want American industry around, quit buying non-American stuff.

Virtually impossible since almost everything is made in China.

 

However, were China to stop buying US debt for whatever reason, they'd lose access to the US market and nobody would be able to buy all their cheap crap anymore and the US would respond by internally producing those things again and maybe competing with China's exports, so no way do they want to do that.

[Balta1701]

How is "can't someone else do it?" responsive to anything I said in that post?

 

(btw when was the last time anyone posted a TDS clip here?)

We get far more jokes about how hilarious it is that retired people should have access to health care.

[greg775]

I'm rooting for Detroit. I've been there and the people are surprisingly friendly. I also enjoy the Greek food in that little Greektown area. Yumm.