Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Growing trade deficit is selling the nation out from under us (2003) [pdf]

faculty.washington.edu

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

101–110 of 200 posts

Re: Growing trade deficit is selling the nation out from under us (2003) [pdf]

#101

Post by avodonosov »

So he says foreigners buy US assets for the dollars US pays them for their goods, and that's the problem - the US being sold out.

My question: don"t these foreigners become Americans in a sense? E.g. by holding shares of US companies they have common interests with other shareholders.

Upd: I mean, if considering nation as a partnership, those new asset co-owners are new parnters. Does it imply old co-owners are deluted? Only if the total value of assets is not growing proportianally to the new shares.

Re: Growing trade deficit is selling the nation out from under us (2003) [pdf]

#102

Post by zabzonk »

wiz21c wrote: post #99
graemep wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As an individual you would own consumer goods. A lot of international trade is other goods. Think of how much the UK has paid for things like American aircraft, ships, machinery, or materials used in manufacturing. Our armed forces use a lot of American stuff, and often even British made things have American parts (and a lot of it is covered by ITAR, to an even greater extent than the rest of Europe). People also ten…

I certainly don't need planes, war stuff nor ships and machinery. The food I eat mostly come from my country, my car is made in countries close to mine and so are the materials used to repair my house... And my gaz is Poutine's. So I fail to see why I need America at all... Ah, yeah, one big exception: my computer. Argh!

UK citizen. My latest laptop is an Asus, made in Taiwan. The Intel CPU is designed in the USA I will admit, but manufactured elsewhere, I think.

Re: Growing trade deficit is selling the nation out from under us (2003) [pdf]

#104

Post by sjx24 »

borlox wrote: post #17

So, you don't want to have "the world" own shares of american companies? Okay, let europe just sell all their stocks and ETF. But also, let them build alternatives to all american products. Let them keep the money they are spending for their Windows and Office licenses, their Netflix and Disney plans. Let them no longer create ad revenues on youtube. Let them buy korean Samsung phones instead of american iPhones. Wou…

Yes? If the American consumer can benefit from more competition and has the ability to subscribe to British Netflix (Brit box?) and French HBO, and the existing monopolies had to work a bit harder for subscribers, that could be an improvement.

Re: Growing trade deficit is selling the nation out from under us (2003) [pdf]

#105

Post by dachworker »

Americans should study Germany and Japan. Do their economies look healthy? Are those manufacturing jobs attractive? Are the Germans and the Japanese richer? Do Germany and Japan have good economic prospects? I'll spare you the research. The answer is, "No". Turns out, having an economy based on manufacturing high-end door knobs in 2025 is not great. Economic growth and innovation is not there, because there is so much growth and innovation that you can eke out of high-end door knobs. These enterprises are great for the families that own them, but they employ a relatively low number of workers, those jobs do not pay that much, and they exist is a steady-state. Well, only until China and India figure out how to also manufacture high-end door knobs.

Re: Growing trade deficit is selling the nation out from under us (2003) [pdf]

#106

Post by anothernewdude »

He is wrong in one major respect, but I see economists do this frequently with GDP - American companies aren't. They aren't solely American companies - they (or at least the large ones worth mentioning) have overseas components to them. Sometimes majorly so.

So those foreigners who own parts of "American companies" are really owning parts of international companies.

Re: Growing trade deficit is selling the nation out from under us (2003) [pdf]

#108

Post by anothernewdude »

mk89 wrote: post #84
tuna-piano wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's funny is the tariffs announced a couple day sago explicitly excluded semi conductors and pharmaceuticals. We are literally about to tariff t-shirts but not those more strategic industries.

Because you need them, otherwise a car would cost you 3x.

Americans own too many cars as it is.

Re: Growing trade deficit is selling the nation out from under us (2003) [pdf]

#109

Post by xuki »

tokioyoyo wrote: post #36
xuki wrote: post #14

Can someone explain to me how the US can reshore manufacturing without dramatically lower their standard of living? Maybe they can subsidize some essential industries but I can’t see a path to do it for everything.

I started believing that all these, are just side effects of Americans and their leadership not accepting the loss of their global leadership to China. They know they can’t pull a Plaza Accord like they did with Japan in the 80s to slow they down. Now hoping for some hail marys. In the worst case, a good chunk of people will be poorer, less women with jobs, which should result in a bump in birth rates. No data points…

I believe whichever party attempts to do this will be voted out in 2 years. It's really really hard to get people to accept a lower standard of living. The only scenario I can think of is during wartime, but the US is pissing off all of their allies.

Re: Growing trade deficit is selling the nation out from under us (2003) [pdf]

#110

Post by RGamma »

gargan wrote: post #46

Business people don't necessarily make the best economists or politicians, that's the main lesson from the last few years to me.

My main lesson is that in (esp. macro) economics nobody knows what's really going on. Too many, too diverse things happening at breakneck speed.
Post reply on HN