In article , Alun
writes:

(N2EY) wrote in
. com:

Alun wrote in message
.. .
snip

I think access to education is already a problem and likely to get
worse. At the same time it's probably about the only antidote to
offshore production.

Then it should be a major priority, rather than trips to Mars ans
such.

Or foreign adventuring.

We had good teachers in that....

Even then, you have countries like India to worry about. Despite their
overall poverty they have more English speaking educated middle class
than America (their sheer numbers help here), and they are willing to
do white collar and professional jobs for much less.

Only because it costs so much less to live there.

That's true, and ironically that's probably due to the huge number of poor
people there. Basic food and services are likely to be provided to the
Indian middle classes by people who are far poorer than we can really
imagine.

That's true but there are other factors to consider: the budget deficit, the
trade deficit and the strong dollar.

The figures for the January trade deficit came out recently. The highest in US
history, something like 46 billion in one month. Much of that is with East
Asian countires like China, Japan, and maybe India. But particularly China.

Imports are inexpensive in part because these countries keep their currencies
low relative to the dollar. Because of the trade deficit, lots of dollars wind
up there, but they don't use those dollars to buy US products. Instead, they
buy US investments - both government securities and private-sector companies.

IOW we export money and jobs, and they use the money to finance our debt and
buy up the USA a little at a time.

Way back in 1783, when the US Constitution was written here in
Philadelphia, one of the limitations placed on Congress was that there
would be no tariffs on *exports*. *Imports* could be tarriffed/taxed
at will - and they were! This was done both as a source of income and
to protect local industry from destructive foreign competition. It is
my understanding that we still have some forms of this in place, in
the form of such things as limits on the number of cars that may be
imported without special taxes. These import quotas caused several
carmakers (mostly Japanese) to build assembly plants here in the USA.
Some cars are even built here and shipped *back to Japan*, because by
doing so they count against the import number.

Maybe it's time for that sort of thing to be expanded. Exporting jobs
may be good for some companies' bottom line in the short run, but in
the long run it spells big trouble.


Forgive me for saying this as a foreigner, but there seems to be no limit
to the level of greed exhibited by corporate America.

How do you define "greed", Alun? Wanting to make a profit? How much profit is
OK and how much is greed?

As you say, it will
lead to big trouble in the long run. Look at what happened to the stock
market in the '20s.

And in 2000.

73 de Jim, N2EY