Consumption based Economy is not sustainable, US needs a lot more manaufacturing (revolution, cost)
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The current US economy based on people consuming more and more isn't sustainable. Many of the job are based on just selling goods to other people. A lot things are people buying is really unneeded and when stop buying these products other people start losing their jobs. Another point is many of jobs are low paying and in fact people don't have money (cash) to buy goods. So buy these products people take on DEBT, some tons of it. Of course leads to problem of creating inflation of rice of products, like houses. Banks lend tons of money and people just took them. Which leads to things like the housing collapse. Another point is this creates huge trade imbalance since US import cheap goods from other countries. The consumer based economy is just not best idea.
What the US needs to push very hard to do is get the huge manufacturing section is used to have back in 50s and 60s. After WII, the manufacturing sector made US the power house it today. However, most of the manufacturing sector has died off in this country. The government seriously needs to invest in getting this sector of economy back. Of course getting back manufacturing back means US will be able to produce something useful again instead of importing everything. There even possibly exporting the good to other countries.
Right now, what see the big problem is that Government is just trying prop up the useless consumer based economy. This is NOT going to work in long haul, even if the current problems are solve there will be more. Government needs to get back manufacturing sector back.
The current US economy based on people consuming more and more isn't sustainable. Many of the job are based on just selling goods to other people. A lot things are people buying is really unneeded and when stop buying these products other people start losing their jobs. Another point is many of jobs are low paying and in fact people don't have money (cash) to buy goods. So buy these products people take on DEBT, some tons of it. Of course leads to problem of creating inflation of rice of products, like houses. Banks lend tons of money and people just took them. Which leads to things like the housing collapse. Another point is this creates huge trade imbalance since US import cheap goods from other countries. The consumer based economy is just not best idea.
What the US needs to push very hard to do is get the huge manufacturing section is used to have back in 50s and 60s. After WII, the manufacturing sector made US the power house it today. However, most of the manufacturing sector has died off in this country. The government seriously needs to invest in getting this sector of economy back. Of course getting back manufacturing back means US will be able to produce something useful again instead of importing everything. There even possibly exporting the good to other countries.
Right now, what see the big problem is that Government is just trying prop up the useless consumer based economy. This is NOT going to work in long haul, even if the current problems are solve there will be more. Government needs to get back manufacturing sector back.
I agree completely. There's too much of an imbalance between America's love for shopping and putting those purchases on credit cards, and those goods being foreign made.
Your premise is OK, but will not happen. High business taxes and unions make it an impossibility to have viable and sustained large manufacturing business base in this country ever again.
Wait, consumption based economies are bad...but the base is that we have to manufacture more goods for people to consume. Without people consuming the goods the demand is not there to spur the supply of goods. The premise is kind of baffling to me.
Wait, consumption based economies are bad...but the base is that we have to manufacture more goods for people to consume. Without people consuming the goods the demand is not there to spur the supply of goods. The premise is kind of baffling to me.
I would think the idea would be quite clear. US is basically a consumption base where all people really do is buy goods. Most people jobs are based in service sector selling those goods. HOWEVER, most of these are not produced in USA. Instead there imported from foreign countries, thus creating a huge trade imbalance. If Americans stop buying, the sales people (aka most Americans) start losing jobs. But foreign produces can still sell their good to their own people or other countries excluding the USA. Furthermore, in order to keep on consuming people end having to leverage a vast about of debt since their service based job isn't enough to keep on buying the massive amount of goods.
The idea is to be come a nation of producers. Where good produced here are consumed by American and EXPORTED to other nations.
No matter what we can do back to manufaturing things that any third world country can do;we heald on to thsat too long. Innovation and high tech is what we now do best.We also have to advance the majority of out wporkforce to thise higher skilled jobs or we will lose on the woprld market. We have to prepare to compotete with sells in the devloping markets ad not think only of what americans buy as the market.
I would think the idea would be quite clear. US is basically a consumption base where all people really do is buy goods. Most people jobs are based in service sector selling those goods. HOWEVER, most of these are not produced in USA. Instead there imported from foreign countries, thus creating a huge trade imbalance. If Americans stop buying, the sales people (aka most Americans) start losing jobs. But foreign produces can still sell their good to their own people or other countries excluding the USA. Furthermore, in order to keep on consuming people end having to leverage a vast about of debt since their service based job isn't enough to keep on buying the massive amount of goods.
The idea is to be come a nation of producers. Where good produced here are consumed by American and EXPORTED to other nations.
That's of course America can compete. Often demand is for low cost and badly made products, which are generally unable to be made in America due to costs. If the US made high quality products there would be fewer buyers, smaller factories, but good reputation. If that happened Murphy's law states that some manager will come along and say "We can save X number of dollars by switching to cheaper materials, sell more, and I'll get a raise"...rinse repeat you have more expensive versions of the crap they make in China. If the quality is the same no one in their right mind would buy the more expensive version.
Same with cars...I have driven one car into the ground and bought a new one (Volvo 240, V6 Rav-4) in the time a good friend has bought 4 new dodge minivans and a Ford Taurus that have failed (god knows why he keeps buying more). That's American quality as it stands, there's a great deal of room for improvement.
That is assuming people get off the kick of simple living and post consumer mantras, and start buying more stuff. Plus having more manufacturing in the US generally is more detrimental to the environment, including shipping raw materials over and processing them before shipping them some where else (not as much as mining them here though).
I think investing in education and research are more the way to go. Many Asian countries did it that have small land areas/no resources and done pretty well. They got hit hard in the currency crises in the late 1990's when they pegged their currency on other peoples money, which was a stupid move but not related to this that I can see. That's just my own thoughts.
I think the US will start to see a growth in manufacturing again, but I doubt many people will be doing it...
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Of course leads to problem of creating inflation of rice of products, like houses. Banks lend tons of money and people just took them. Which leads to things like the housing collapse. Another point is this creates huge trade imbalance since US import cheap goods from other countries. The consumer based economy is just not best idea.
