pErvin wrote:Forty Two wrote:
pErvin wrote:
Where would you get all your consumer products from??
Not NAFTA and free trade agreements. Consumer protection comes from a variety of sources, but not NAFTA and other free trade agreements. We have statutes both at the federal and state level regulating the sales of goods and services, finance, etc. We have state and federal agencies enforcing those laws, etc.
Put your reading glasses on. I said "products" not "protections".
Indeed, misread that. The problem here is that the inability to manufacture products here in the US is not healthy.
pErvin wrote:
pErvin wrote:
Remember, the US needs China/Mexico more than the other way around. China and Mexico etc need the US and other large markets to keep growing at extraodinary rates, but they can largely sustain themselves by their own production. The US (and other Western nations) can't any more.
You tell me to "remember" that the US needs China and Mexico ore than the other way around, but that is an assertion you need to establish. China and Mexico rely very heavily on the US, and the US still has the capacity to send those countries down the shitter.
Well that's an assertion that you need to establish. There's no doubt that China and Mexico's economy would suffer if they suddenly lost the US market to sell into.
We're agreed on that, then. I'm comfortable with "China and Mexico's economy would suffer if they suddently lost the US market to sell into. I think that is consistent with them "relying very heavily on the US," but if you don't agree, then we'll just agree on the point that their economies would suffer, "no doubt."
pErvin wrote:
But their very existence wouldn't be under threat, as they largely can make the stuff that they need to be self-sufficient to a certain standard. The US can't do that. The US mostly only makes high-tech stuff now. All the low tech and labour intensive stuff is made in Mexico/China/etc.
Well, the question is, is it too late for the US to stem the tide of exiting manufacturing here in the US? If so, then we're fucked anyway, eventually. If not, we need to get on it and get it fixed. I am not sure if it's too late. You seem to be sure that it's too late.
pErvin wrote:
I acknowledge that the ability of the US and other western countries to do the things they should be able to do as a nation is declining. That's what I've been on about. The US manufacturing base is being depleted. Our industries are gone. We've gone information and service based economy, and we're relying a lot on military production and a few remaining major industries. This is not sustainable.
I agree.
And, that's what Trump wants to fix, and what Hillary has denied is even a problem.
“When I was in college, I took a terrorism class. ... The thing that was interesting in the class was every time the professor said ‘Al Qaeda’ his shoulders went up, But you know, it is that you don’t say ‘America’ with an intensity, you don’t say ‘England’ with the intensity. You don’t say ‘the army’ with the intensity,” she continued. “... But you say these names [Al Qaeda] because you want that word to carry weight. You want it to be something.” - Ilhan Omar