5 ms·
It's easy to start filtering yourselves into the camps of "the rich are too rich, tax them!" or "the rich earned their money, you have no right to take it away!
by ender7 15y ago
It's easy to start filtering yourselves into the camps of "the rich are too rich, tax them!" or "the rich earned their money, you have no right to take it away!". Then you can yell at each other from across great echoing divide until the sun grows dark.
The sad fact is that America is no longer a country that makes things, and as a result we no longer find ourselves in a position to employ people in positions that are actually worth a damn. Or that pay a salary worth a damn.
We still make some things. Software. Circuit designs. Entertainment. Product design (to sell things to ourselves). Pharma. People who work in these areas are paid well.
Oh, and the financial industry. Which, despite demonstrating a wonderful ability to make itself mountains of cash, has failed to demonstrate how it benefits the rest of the country. (obviously, its ability to provide lines of credit is valuable, but we had that long before investment banking came to dominate the entire financial industry)
I remember reading Snow Crash for the first time and coming across this line:
There's only four things we do better than anyone else:
music
movies
microcode (software)
high-speed pizza delivery
and thinking "what an alien dystopia that future must be".
- suking 15y agoIt's not even investment banking anymore, GS might as well just be a prop trading firm - how many companies are raising cash now or doing private placements.
- yummyfajitas 15y agoThe sad fact is that America is no longer a country that makes things, and as a result we no longer find ourselves in a position to employ people in positions that are actually worth a damn. This is incorrect. We make plenty of things, more than in most historical periods. http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/INDPRO http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/INDPRO We just do it more efficiently, resulting in fewer manufacturing jobs. http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/MANEMP http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/MANEMP
- nerfhammer 15y agoNot really. http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2010020825/no-virginia-us-manufacturing-isnt-dead http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2010020825/no-virginia-u... Manufacturing output is up and has increased at a relatively stable clip over the past 50 years. Manufacturing productivity has increased at a faster rate, however.
- webwright 15y agoMore data: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_exports http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_exports The US is the #3 country in terms of exports.
- pbsurf 15y agohttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_current_account_balance http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_current_ac... Scroll all the way to the bottom.
- enjo 15y agoWhat does that have to do with anything?
- sologoub 15y agoShort version: We buy more than we sell. Wealth is being transferred out. Long version: It means we import way more than we export... In other words, we buy from others a lot more than we sell to others. In theory, this would create a strong downward pressure on US dollar, but as it is the reserve currency of the world and is backed by giant consumer economy that everyone is selling into, as well as US military might, the pressure is negated. Some economists argue that this is extremely unhealthy and is unsustainable. I'm not qualified to say if it's true or not. One thing I would say, is look at most countries with a huge positive balance - most are oil producers or cheap(er) labor sources for less skilled stuff. Notable exceptions here is Germany. In fact, Germany is very luck that the rest of Euro zone likes to spend profusely. If not for those other countries dragging the Euro down, their currency would have appreciated exponentially, making their exports way too expensive.
- yummyfajitas 15y agoWealth is being transferred in - it is money that is being transferred out. The net result is that we are trading China some green pieces of paper for flat screen TV's. I like my Chinese-made laptop more than green pieces of paper, so it sounds like a win to me.
- rubiety 15y ago"The sad fact is that America is no longer a country that makes things, and as a result we no longer find ourselves in a position to employ people in positions that are actually worth a damn." This makes just about as much sense as a similar statement does 100 years ago: "The sad fact is that America is no longer a country of farmers producing food, and as a result we no longer find ourselves in a position to employ people in positions that are actually worth a damn." A service economy and relative decline of manufacturing output (NOTE: I said relative - manufacturing output is at an all time high) is something to be celebrated, not bemoaned.
- deleted 15y ago[deleted]
- gamble 15y agoExcept that productivity and GDP have been rising as steadily as ever. The wealth is there; it's just being entirely captured by the wealthiest citizens.
- functionoid 15y agoGDP is currently less than 2%. It is every decreasing for this decade and especially in last few years. Not sure where you are getting your numbers from.