3 ms·
We are in a discussion of the US trade deficit. Obviously, moving a factory from China to Nebraska reduces the US's trade deficit.
by hollerith 1y ago
We are in a discussion of the US trade deficit. Obviously, moving a factory from China to Nebraska reduces the US's trade deficit.
- ryandrake 1y agoBut, how does changing some number on a "trade deficit" spreadsheet materially affect Apple or Americans? Apple pays slightly more taxes to the government than it did before. Big deal. There is no incentive to demolish an automated factory in China and re-build it in Nebraska.
- hollerith 1y agoApparently the US can sustain a trade deficit with the rest of the world, but certainly this ability to sustain one is not unlimited, so lowering the trade deficit tends to help Americans by making it more likely that the US economy can continue to import things (including some things are are available only outside the US, e.g., fruits that only grow in tropical climate).
- ta1243 1y agoHow will apple being in Nebraska make any difference to Joe Bloggs from Oklahoma importing something?
- hollerith 1y agoIf the trade deficit becomes or continues to be unsustainably large, that would devalue the dollar so that Joe's dollar buy less imports than it does now. There are hints of a strange energy to your questions, which does not bother me, but I am curious whether you feel hostile to me, e.g., because you inferred from my answers that I probably support a political faction that you regard as the enemy.
- ta1243 1y agoNot really, you seem to think that the location of an automated factory which employs basically nobody makes a material difference to anyone, and I'm trying to work out what that is