I do not fully agree. There is no FTA between US and China. In fact the recent TPP is meant to undermine China's rising influence in East Asia and ostentatiously excludes China. Trade barriers between China and US works both ways precisely because there is no FTAs in place. But I think the main cause of the huge trade deficit is because the value of Chinese yuan is artificially low (controlled by Chinese government), making it super cheap to export there. I believe FTAs does spur growth on paper but in practice, it is often aspirational. That's partly because it's difficult to ask companies to act in the best interest of their employees. People said that FTAs caused US companies to shift jobs overseas and that is very true. But its the very same people who expects cheap products. Unless you are willing to pay 5-6x more.
The government has nothing to do with it. Multinational corporations rule the world. They go where input costs are the cheapest so they can make the bottom line look better and enrich the select group of people at the top of the corporation with big fat performance bonuses and compensation packages that they vote on for themselves. The rest of you slobs can have a 3% raise. Now get back to work or we will figure how to send your job to Asia.
Unemployment in the US is calculated based on responses to home phone surveys. Fewer Americans have home phones than ever, so there are many questions about the validity of such surveys, especially since they cannot reach those who do not have a permanent address or a home phone. So take that unemployment figure for what it's worth - a grain of salt.
Mc. Donald workers want 15 bucks a hour. Btw writing this while on a McDonald's toilet after 2 mc. Chickens
I believe that your "unemployment" check gets cut off after something like 99 months now (Obama raised it) and after the 99 months you are not considered "unemployed" anymore so the word "unemployed" doesn't mean as much as many think it does. At least this is the way I understand it someone please correct me if I'm incorrect.
You can draw unemployment for about a year and a half with the extensions. Assuming you qualify for the extensions. And yes it is at a ten year low but thats only bc it spiked sky high during obamas first term and those people drew it to its max then lost it. So naturally the number is coming down as all the unemployed from the spike cant reapply for it. Obamas critics smash him over bragging about a low unemployment rate bc of this. Hes using a negative to try and inflate his term bc its been a disaster.
http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LNS14000000 This shows u.s. unemployment rates. They were around a 4.5% when obama took office, wich is normal. They spiked to over 10 during his first term and stayed extremely high through his run, theyve came down drastically past two years but its bc people have drawn it out and had to come off it.
Labor force was replaced by machines, robotics and artificially produced food. How much of your population are employed by agriculture, fishing and industrial? Your college graduates' idea of a "job" is being in top notch companies, law firms, accounting firms and the grandeur of being employed by the government. Depends on your definition of unemployment. Some people are unemployed yet they are still earning or finding ways to pay their bills. Unemployment does not mean poverty. It is an economic dilemma of a person which can be solved by being financially wise. Americans, please don't make "unemployment" a political issue. It could boil down from your culture of "in dollar we trust".
While free trade can be good, it has to be smart trade. The only way to keep jobs in the United States is to protect domestic business by incorporating some more tariffs (being libertarian learning, believe me, it was hard to admit that) Asian labor is dirt cheap, and saves a lot of money, none of which is passed on to consumers, however. The end result from outsourcing is this: Domestic workers - loss of jobs (negative) Taxpayers - more social service costs to the unemployed (negative) Community - loss of tax revenue (negative) Consumers - same price for products (neutral) Shareholders/Owners - more profit (positive)
You are incorrect. As I said in an earlier post on this thread, the United States unemployment figure comes from a survey done by the census bureau that does a survey every month of just 100k people to determine the unemployment rate of millions of Americans. This figure doesn't take into account the homeless or those who do not have a home phone.
False. The unemployment figures for the United States is NOT based on the number of people collecting unemployment benefits. The United States unemployment figures come from a telephone survey conducted by the United States census bureau that surveys just 100k Americans every month They do not include those who have lost their homes, nor do they include people who have chosen not to have home telephone service (which is pretty much everyone I know).
False. This statement is so full of misinformation, I don't even know if it's worth picking apart. All you need to know is that nothing in this person's post is based on anything remotely resembling factual evidence. This is pure hate and fear mongering and contributes to the very foundation of the republican establishment economic theory, which is that people willingly choose their economic conditions. This has never been true, and it certainly isn't true for modern America.
Ever notice after the US comes out of an economical low, the businesses that had laid off large amounts of their work force dont hire them back after the economy suppossedly recovers? Instead the businesses learn they can actually just overload the remaining workers with twice as much responsibilities without having to pay them twice as much. Doesn't matter if it here or overseas. Doesn't matter what the product is. Companies dont exsit to provide, they exist to profit. Even the groups that fight for the working class against corporate policies are nothing more than a profiting organization themselves.
Yup & i've noticed the consumer will never see the full reduced pricing after taxes or increased expenses are lowered or removed again..once most companies figure out they can get more for doing less they won't be far from ripping off their consumers unfortunately & i mostly see it getting worse atm.
War is literally the only proven way to stabilise an economy, check your history. I'm right and I know it.
@southlander, That's why a designer shirt that costs $5 to make in Bangladesh goes for $55 in department stores.
And? Can you specify the hate in my post? Everyone is entitled to his own opinion. If you don't have clear evidences pertaining to hatred, please refrain from accusations and stirring any personal attacks. Ok, leaving this thread now. I'm too busy in rl, I don't have time for cheesy arguments.
It all depends on how developed the country is, countries like America have more "service providing industries". While other countries that are developing like China and India focus on industrialization like we did at one point. Furthermore there's the undeveloped countries that mostly just focus on farming.