3 ms·

This seems true for most modern, western economies: they are migrating from a producing economy to a service & knowledge economy. Logistics is big (moving stuff

This seems true for most modern, western economies: they are migrating from a producing economy to a service & knowledge economy. Logistics is big (moving stuff) and services are big (consultancy, lawfirms, etc), but the actual factories are gone. And that makes sense: with higher education levels you can make more complex things than the "regular" factories do. Stuff that requires trained staff - brains. Oh - and btw: the US likely not only refines most oil, it also consumes it: the US have grown to a country based on consumption, spending and borrowing, but not on producing anything. So if goods only come in and money only goes out, there comes a time where the money is gone. And that is when the trouble starts...

strictnein 10y ago
> "but not on producing anything" That's just not accurate. The US produces and exports a wide variety of petroleum based products and lots of oil as well. We import a lot of heavier oil, because we have the capacity to refine it (unlike most nations) and export a lot of the easier to refine stuff. http://money.cnn.com/2016/06/06/investing/us-oil-exports-increase/ http://money.cnn.com/2016/06/06/investing/us-oil-exports-inc... https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=25532 https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=25532 And, the US industrial output is at its highest point ever. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/INDPRO https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/INDPRO
- frozenport 10y ago
  I think you need to normalize by population to get a sense for how much, we as a people, are producing. https://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=(industrial+production+index)%2F(us+population) https://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=(industrial+production... Here the story is that our product has peaked around 2000, and has been doing down ever since.
  - dsp1234 10y ago
    Except that story would not be true, as it clearly goes up, and has a higher peak after 2000.
    - frozenport 10y ago
      Yeah around 2007, but this was relatively short lived. At the end of the day the perception that economic output is dropping (slope) is valid if you consider it on a per capita basis. Now I'd you consider that the jobs and profits aren'disturbed equally, you can see why Trump won.
icebraining 10y ago
But it's not true, the actual factories are still producing, and more than never: http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jonbruner/files/2011/08/value_added-large.png http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jonbruner/files/2011/08/value...
snrplfth 10y ago
> "the US have grown to a country based on consumption, spending and borrowing, but not on producing anything." Eh, not really. Services and other tertiary industries are just as much "production" as a factory or a mine is. The US government, and US citizens, are not much more indebted than average. You don't "run out of money" by buying foreign goods.

strictnein 10y ago

> "but not on producing anything" That's just not accurate. The US produces and exports a wide variety of petroleum based products and lots of oil as well. We import a lot of heavier oil, because we have the capacity to refine it (unlike most nations) and export a lot of the easier to refine stuff. http://money.cnn.com/2016/06/06/investing/us-oil-exports-increase/ http://money.cnn.com/2016/06/06/investing/us-oil-exports-inc... https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=25532 https://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.php?id=25532 And, the US industrial output is at its highest point ever. https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/INDPRO https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/INDPRO

frozenport 10y ago
I think you need to normalize by population to get a sense for how much, we as a people, are producing. https://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=(industrial+production+index)%2F(us+population) https://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=(industrial+production... Here the story is that our product has peaked around 2000, and has been doing down ever since.
- dsp1234 10y ago
  Except that story would not be true, as it clearly goes up, and has a higher peak after 2000.
  - frozenport 10y ago
    Yeah around 2007, but this was relatively short lived. At the end of the day the perception that economic output is dropping (slope) is valid if you consider it on a per capita basis. Now I'd you consider that the jobs and profits aren'disturbed equally, you can see why Trump won.

icebraining 10y ago

But it's not true, the actual factories are still producing, and more than never: http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jonbruner/files/2011/08/value_added-large.png http://blogs-images.forbes.com/jonbruner/files/2011/08/value...

snrplfth 10y ago

> "the US have grown to a country based on consumption, spending and borrowing, but not on producing anything." Eh, not really. Services and other tertiary industries are just as much "production" as a factory or a mine is. The US government, and US citizens, are not much more indebted than average. You don't "run out of money" by buying foreign goods.