Oh, I'd forgotten to mention one big one: Terminate NAFTA -- it failed miserably.

 

Not as long as the services we provide (engineering, research & development, design, financials, consulting, medical, and to a lesser extent technical support and customer service operations) continue to compensate for the tangible goods deficit.

 

the US is still the largest manufacturer in the world there buddy

 

http://www.latimes.com/news/columnis...,418500.column damn that sucks.

 

i think mass domestic spending is the way to go. Obviously it would mean even more debt for the next years to come but i think it's still the best way to get the USA out of this shit without increasing the spread between poor and rich even more.

 

Higher import taxes would probably help.

 

Which doesn't do much good when a large percentage of that manufacturing is off-shored to the developing world.

Friedman may have had a point about globalization being a pacifying tool; people are a lot less inclined to pick up an AK and overthrow their governments when they've got a Lexus in the driveway and a decent place to live.

But in practice, all globalization has done is run all the nations' ships aground at once.

For example, Chrysler's bankruptcy will most likely spell the end for the Saltillo, Mexico plant where the Dodge Ram was made.
The argument for raising the standard of living south of the border was facetious at best considering the meager wages.

Assuming Salitillo closes and thousands are left jobless, how does exporting joblessness serve an economy like ours?
We have already forfeited the opportunity to employ our citizens here and now we're compounded an ailing nation's losses.

 

Legalize cannabis for recreational, medical, and industrial hemp use and tax it. We would no longer need to import hemp products. It would generate a ton of cash and new jobs, and free a ton of people in our jails and prisons.

It used to be mandatory for farmers in the US to grow cannabis for industrial use because of all the uses it possesses.

 

que?

i'm talking dollar for dollar goods made in US vs goods made in other countries

the US is still the largest manufacturer ... the reason its widely believed that its not is because many common household items that once held the "made in america" mantra are no longer seen and they are made overseas but dollar for dollar the US is still the largest manufacturer in the nation

i wrote areport this last semester on this exact subject, i believe it was cnbc had done some interesting reports on the subject

edit:

heres the article
http://www.cnbc.com/id/29231567/

the particular thing to know is that for every dollar manufactured in china the US manufactures 2.50 ... the trend has just shifted from low profit household goods to high dollar high profit items that cant be made anywhere else. dollar for dollar we still lead the world

 

dollar for dollar there is your problem. one dollar in china will produce more goods than in the US.

for the OPs question.

I honestly don't know. I've taken upper division economics classes in college and I don't know. I can only hope (with fingers crossed), that those in charge now are making the right moves or will make the right move. I've no idea what the right moves are, but ask me again in 10 years and I can tell you exactly what they were h: