Another US Tech Trade Deficit

eldavojohn writes "The United States is suffering again from a massive trade deficit — $38.3 billion in 2006. And it's been going on since 2002. From the press release: 'In 2006, Asia supplied 60 percent of all US imports of advanced technology products. Europe supplied more than 20 percent, and North America more than 15 percent.'"

Comments

We do it to ourselves

[DukeLinux]

I vote in EVERY election in my precint. I vote against ALL incumbants and against any additional spending. I am doing my part. I think when the dollar finally collapses people will get a clue that deindustrializing along with de-educating our kids was a really bad idea. I am not sure if our Government fully appreciates the impact of a bunch of pissed-off gun-owning "peasants." Shrub never read the history around Viet Nam and wonderfully repeated it. I bet he knows even less about European history...regarding uprisings, inserection and revolutions, etc.

It isn't luck, it was *absolute genius*

[Colin Smith]

The US declared bankruptcy on the 15th of August 1971.

Nobody noticed or seemed to care. Which I have to admit I find a touch odd. But... at the same time, in 1972 and 1973 they managed to persuade the House of Saudi to denominate oil in US dollars so everyone had to buy dollars to buy oil. Perhaps you'll start to understand the close relationship between the US and Saudi now.

This genius has allowed the US to export it's inflation to the rest of the world for decades. It may have been desperation or genius, but whoever it was that thought it up should be given the highest medal by the US government and people. It's given the US a truly massive advantage over all of the other countries.

Of course, 40 years later, everyone is starting to wake up to the importance of currency, and the oil producers are starting to switch away from the US dollar as it's value dwindles.

"A nation-state taxes its own citizens, while an empire taxes other nation-states."
And inflation is just another form of taxation.

Brilliant.

Re:How long

[archen]

I've actually had discussions on this sort of topic and I didn't realize the implications until later. It's almost impossible to get an electronic system manufactured in the U.S. now because we've shipped all of our capabilities overseas - mainly to China. I was having a discussion with a friend about a product which he was talking about producing - a one time thing, for himself. I mentioned that it was a pretty cool idea and that he should consider making such a product commercially and selling it. He said that it wasn't worth the effort. You need to produce the product, that means using a Chinese manufacturer. They will copy it and undercut you to hell and back, whether you have a patent or not. So really there is no reason to think up new products because in the end China will end up screwing you.

There is an amazing amount of gadgetry out there now days, but I wonder how many products never come to life because people (in the U.S.) understand that there is no way to really make any money on it.

Re:How long

[Carewolf]

Wages are even higher in Europe, yet according to the story you import more electronics from Europe than you produce yourself.

Re:Why?

[Marxist Hacker 42]

so you're saying that if someone loses their high paying manufacturing job, then they can't go do something else ever?

No, I'm saying that the options to high paying manufacturing jobs pay less than a living wage.

not even 20 years from now?

Unless something comes along that pays a living wage, not even 20 years from now. The race for cheap labor is a race to the bottom, not to the top.

It's a local hiccup to lose a local industry to foreign competition, it doesn't make the next generation (next 4 year class of college students even) of workers immune to finding jobs.

It just means that the next generation only has burger flipping available- because nobody can afford anything else.

It's those high paying jobs anyway that make American companies unable to compete with foreign companies who don't pay them as much.

And we want to compete with them exactly why? Why not just lock them out of our market so that we don't have to compete with them?

So you're basically saying that we should somehow tell the other countries that they have to be fair and pay them as much as we'd like to make, because.. it's only fair that way... right?

No, I'm saying that if they want to sell goods here, then they have to pay equal to American wages. If they don't want to pay equal to American wages, then I see NO reason why we should allow their imports AT ALL.

I don't think they'll buy it. And you will be left behind whining about how life isn't fair, while the people who adapt will be moving on buying more plasma screen tv's they shouldn't be able to afford.

At least until China realizes that all they're getting for those plasma screens are IOUs that will never be paid off. I don't see any reason why we can't just sink the Chinese ships trying to cross our borders, and make the plasma screens here. But hey- if you like selling out your nationality for cheap labor, so be it. There's a name for that: treason. And someday, patriots like me will be handing out the proper punishment for that crime.