Japanese cars....

[jerrymaker]

I was just thinking over the veterens holiday about all these american people buying these japanese cars, and how unfair our trade policys are. i don't have the exact figure, but like 1 ford/chevy to 1500 hondas our cars sold there to theres here, so people say they are not right side steering. well, i went to korea and about the same numbers but they are same side as us. does anybody know how many U.S. factories we have in japan or korea? i would bet 0. now japan is about as big as indiana or so... they have how many car companies.. honda, acura,toyota,lexus, mazada,subarau, mitsubishi, nissan, suzuki,isuzu and i'm sure i am missing many. and a lot of people say they hate unions and there demands. but in korea and japan these companies are heavly unionized big time. but not here. What the hell is going on?

[allin]

I don't think Korea allows any American products to be even sold there. If they do it is at a huge disadvantage to American manufacturers. I remember reading an article about them, in any event it was rediculous the unbalanced trade that goes on. Course I'm not an expert at this subject. My daughter came home from Korea telling me everything sold there is made in Korea, she didn't see foreign goods there. Time to get the trade laws changed...I know it seems like something that will never happen.

[flipuaw164]

I don't think Korea allows any American products to be even sold there. If they do it is at a huge disadvantage to American manufacturers. I remember reading an article about them, in any event it was rediculous the unbalanced trade that goes on. Course I'm not an expert at this subject. My daughter came home from Korea telling me everything sold there is made in Korea, she didn't see foreign goods there. Time to get the trade laws changed...I know it seems like something that will never happen.

its true the trade agreements do not allow american imports unless there used

SUV and Truck sales would go through the rough if we could sell them overseas ie china japan korea even europe but those goverments do not want them

Hell American Beef is in demand in japan but the Jap Goverment will not let us import it there scared of mad cow disease a roast we buy for a couple of bucks cost 80 dollars in japan

[nvsked]

its true the trade agreements do not allow american imports unless there used

SUV and Truck sales would go through the rough if we could sell them overseas ie china japan korea even europe but those goverments do not want them

Hell American Beef is in demand in japan but the Jap Goverment will not let us import it there scared of mad cow disease a roast we buy for a couple of bucks cost 80 dollars in japan

 

Sounds like free trade to me?

[jerrymaker]

Why not give a tax breaks to buy american made cars and a tax penalty for buying japanese,korean and german cars? the last three are not buying are U.S. debt, communist Chinia is and they don't have there car factories here YET.....We are a third world country... a third world country is defined as a country that only exports minerals and ariguculteral exports, WE MAKE NOTHING HERE ANYMORE... GET IT... WAKE UP!!!!!

[gunnut69]

Why not give a tax breaks to buy american made cars and a tax penalty for buying japanese,korean and german cars? the last three are not buying are U.S. debt, communist Chinia is and they don't have there car factories here YET.....We are a third world country... a third world country is defined as a country that only exports minerals and ariguculteral exports, WE MAKE NOTHING HERE ANYMORE... GET IT... WAKE UP!!!!!

 

we export technology among other things.

 

they do build cars in china.

 

why not make our trade policies on imports the same as our trading partners? in other words we levy the same 100% tariff on japanese cars as they do on our cars.

 

why not require wages and benefits for foreign workers producing goods for sale in the u.s. to be equal to the market where the goods are sold instead of where the labor is bought?

then maybe foreign laborers could afford to buy some of our goods. you know, the way its supposed to work.

[OldFordJim]

Remember when the Cash For Clunkers program was first proposed? At first it was only going to be for American cars. Right away, the Asians and Europeans began wailing and gnashing their teeth saying,"that's not fair trade, that's not fair trade". In other words, to them, it's only fair if we let their cars in for free and they tax the crap out of ours going into their countries. If our government had any balls, and that's both Repukes and Democraps, they'd tell all them foreign car makers to shove their cars up their ass and keep them away.

[Marginal Economist]

Why not give a tax breaks to buy american made cars and a tax penalty for buying japanese,korean and german cars? the last three are not buying are U.S. debt, communist Chinia is and they don't have there car factories here YET.....We are a third world country... a third world country is defined as a country that only exports minerals and ariguculteral exports, WE MAKE NOTHING HERE ANYMORE... GET IT... WAKE UP!!!!!

The United States is the world’s leading producer of manufactured goods

Another Look

Edited November 22, 2009 by Marginal Economist

[jerrymaker]

Remember when the Cash For Clunkers program was first proposed? At first it was only going to be for American cars. Right away, the Asians and Europeans began wailing and gnashing their teeth saying,"that's not fair trade, that's not fair trade". In other words, to them, it's only fair if we let their cars in for free and they tax the crap out of ours going into their countries. If our government had any balls, and that's both Repukes and Democraps, they'd tell all them foreign car makers to shove their cars up their ass and keep them away.

 

Great post. i remember. i forget the word they used but it was all about the USA. we can't have that. i was talking to my wife about how big japan is, and how many car companies they have. try to count how many car companies japan has....here's a hint you will need both hands and include the feet...

[jerrymaker]

The United States is the world’s leading producer of manufactured goods

Another Look

 

 

What we may not know is what makes a third world country.... they only or mainly export natural resources and farm products... thats US. we make nothing here, costs too much. You know we are in trouble when communist china makes are warheads and guideance systems... WAKE UP.

[walktall]

The United States is the world’s leading producer of manufactured goods

Another Look

 

 

This is a goverment study. And most of you probably remeber the Bush admin changed the rules to allow McDonalds and others to count as manufaturing. So, I believe this report would be new enough to reflect that change. I agree with that report, we are the worlds biggest producer of hamburgers.

[J-150]

Why not give a tax breaks to buy american made cars and a tax penalty for buying japanese,korean and german cars? the last three are not buying are U.S. debt, communist Chinia is and they don't have there car factories here YET.....We are a third world country... a third world country is defined as a country that only exports minerals and ariguculteral exports, WE MAKE NOTHING HERE ANYMORE... GET IT... WAKE UP!!!!!

 

 

 

how true.

 

although I do believe that 20 years ago Japan and Korea were huge buyers of US debt which is why they were given a free pass.

[intheloop]

http://www.bls.gov/fls/chartbook2009/chart3.7.pdf

 

 

Just because it's in print doesn’t make it true! I don't see China in there at all

Edited November 22, 2009 by intheloop

[Marginal Economist]

What we may not know is what makes a third world country.... they only or mainly export natural resources and farm products... thats US. we make nothing here, costs too much. You know we are in trouble when communist china makes are warheads and guideance systems... WAKE UP.

The Iowa Car Crop

by Steven Landsburg

 

A thing of beauty is a joy forever, and nothing is more beautiful than a succinct and flawless argument. A few lines of reasoning can change the way we see the world.

 

I found one of the most beautiful arguments I know while I was browsing through a textbook written by my friend David Friedman. While the argument might not be original, David’s version is so clear, so concise, so incontrovertible, and so delightfully surprising, that I have been unable to resist sharing it with students, relatives, and cocktail-party acquaintances at every opportunity. The argument involves international trade, but its appeal is less in its subject matter than in its irresistible force.

 

David’s observation is that there are two technologies for producing automobiles in America. One is to manufacture them in Detroit, and the other is to grow them in Iowa. Everybody knows about the first technology; let me tell you about the second. First, you plant seeds, which are the raw material from which automobiles are constructed. You wait a few months until wheat appears. Then you harvest the wheat, load it onto ships, and sail the ships westward into the Pacific Ocean. After a few months, the ships reappear with Toyotas on them.

 

International trade is nothing but a form of technology. The fact that there is a place called Japan, with people and factories, is quite irrelevant to Americans’ well-being. To analyze trade policies, we might as well assume that Japan is a giant machine with mysterious inner workings that convert wheat into cars.

 

Any policy designed to favor the first American technology over the second is a policy designed to favor American auto producers in Detroit over American auto producers in Iowa. A tax or a ban on “imported” automobiles is a tax or a ban on Iowa-grown automobiles. If you protect Detroit car-makers from competition, then you must damage Iowa farmers, because Iowa farmers are the competition.

 

The task of producing a given fleet of cars can be allocated between Detroit and Iowa in a variety of ways. A competitive price system selects that allocation that minimizes the total production cost. It would be unnecessarily expensive to manufacture all cars in Detroit, unnecessarily expensive to grow all cars in Iowa, and unnecessarily expensive to use the two production processes in anything other than the natural ratio that emerges as a result of competition.

 

That means that protection for Detroit does more than just transfer income from farmers to autoworkers. It also raises the total cost of providing Americans with a given number of automobiles. The efficiency loss comes with no offsetting gain; it impoverishes the nation as a whole.

 

There is much talk about improving the efficiency of American car manufacturing. When you have two ways to make a car, the road to efficiency is to use both in optimal proportions. The last thing you should want to do is to artificially hobble one of your production technologies. It is sheer superstition to think that an Iowa-grown Camry is any less “American” than a Detroit-built Taurus. Policies rooted in superstition do not frequently bear efficient fruit.

 

In 1817, David Ricardo—the first economist to think with the precision, though not the language, of pure mathematics—laid the foundation for all future thought about international trade. In the intervening 150 years his theory has been much elaborated but its foundations remain as firmly established as anything in economics. Trade theory predicts first that if you protect American producers in one industry from foreign competition, then you must damage American producers in other industries. It predicts second that if you protect American producers in one industry from foreign competition, there must be a net loss in economic efficiency. Ordinarily, textbooks establish these propositions through graphs, equations, and intricate reasoning. The little story that I learned from David Friedman makes the same propositions blindingly obvious with a single compelling metaphor. That is economics at its best.

[Marginal Economist]

http://www.bls.gov/fls/chartbook2009/chart3.7.pdf

 

 

Just because it's in print doesn’t make it true! I don't see China in there at all

 

See the 2nd chart I posted. Developing countries versus established.

 

(Edit for typo)

Edited November 22, 2009 by Marginal Economist

[J-150]

http://www.bls.gov/fls/chartbook2009/chart3.7.pdf

 

 

Just because it's in print doesn’t make it true! I don't see China in there at all

 

 

this chart says a lot.

 

Japan manufactures about half of what the US does... but the country has about 40% of the population of the US.

 

which means they manufacture about 20% more than America does, per capita.

 

 

 

As far as this "growing cars" thing... thats BS. Wheat, corn, timber, minerla ores... raw materials.

 

A car? All of the things listed above with many, many additional productive man hours put into them. So we grow a tree. We cut it down and ship it to Korea (or China or Taiwan or wherever) They ship back a finished piece of furniture. Now ytell me with a straight face how America gets a better deal in that trade transaction? $2 of lumber becomes a $500 kitchen table. $2 to us and $498 to Korea (or Taiwan, China etc)

 

the math is there for all to see.

[OAC_Sparky]

the math is there for all to see.

STOP this heresy!! We need our $500 WalMart table!! If it was made by an American union worker it would cost $550 and I wouldn't be able to afford my MegaBeltBuster Extra Large Tub'oPork Rinds at Sam's Club. How DARE you try to impact my standard of living!!

 

Some people....sheesh.

[hate4ncars]

I dont get the point of the point of the whole article because other countries pretty much have to by our food products cause they cant grow or supply their own if they want a trade war over tariffs let them starve and decrease the surplus population.

[r7n7]

http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=5f2_1183680135

 

Don't blame me, I voted/tried to get people to vote 3rd party.

[J-150]

I dont get the point of the point of the whole article because other countries pretty much have to by our food products cause they cant grow or supply their own if they want a trade war over tariffs let them starve and decrease the surplus population.

 

 

the difference is in how much additional economic productive units go into the export versus the import.

 

so we should not be shipping raw wheat. ship them finished loaves of bread. adds more jobs to the export side.

 

 

we ship raw materiuals and they return them as finished product with many more man hours in the product.

[J-150]

should also note that 3 of the 4 largest countries in the world (China India Brazil) are more than capable of making their own food.

 

 

In fact the scary part is that countires like CHina are starting to harvest/collect their own raw materials now. Trees, minerals, food. So the fiished product coming over from China to Wal-Mart isnt even being made with American lumber anymore.

[Marginal Economist]

the difference is in how much additional economic productive units go into the export versus the import.

 

so we should not be shipping raw wheat. ship them finished loaves of bread. adds more jobs to the export side.

 

 

we ship raw materiuals and they return them as finished product with many more man hours in the product.

 

You just described Mercantilism.

 

That every inch of a country's soil be utilized for agriculture, mining or manufacturing.

That all raw materials found in a country be used in domestic manufacture, since finished goods have a higher value than raw materials.

That a large, working population be encouraged.

That all export of gold and silver be prohibited and all domestic money be kept in circulation.

That all imports of foreign goods be discouraged as much as possible.

That where certain imports are indispensable they be obtained at first hand, in exchange for other domestic goods instead of gold and silver.

That as much as possible, imports be confined to raw materials that can be finished [in the home country].

That opportunities be constantly sought for selling a country's surplus manufactures to foreigners, so far as necessary, for gold and silver.

That no importation be allowed if such goods are sufficiently and suitably supplied at home.

Edited November 25, 2009 by Marginal Economist