Economists To G-8: Want Growth? Try This

[sheshe2]

2013 Accord is ready to come off the line at the Honda automobile plant in Marysville, Ohio, in 2012. Accords built at the 4,400-employee plant are shipped to South Korea — an example of the importance of trade to manufacturing jobs. (Reuters/Landov)

SNIP:

Too many countries have legions of unemployed people but too few tools to boost job creation, he said. That's because their leaders are trying to cut government deficits, limiting their ability to fund "stimulus" programs. At the same time, central bankers can't lower interest rates further because they already have done lots of slashing.

Snip:

Trade is where the growth is now," Miller said Friday at a gathering of economists and trade experts at the Peterson Institute for International Economics. Miller and the other participants were poring over new data put together by the institute.

The study's conclusion was: "Increased trade means more jobs in the export sector, and export jobs are generally better paid than jobs in other sectors of the economy."

more at the link.
http://www.wbur.org/npr/191723920/economists-see-trade-as-key-to-world-growth

[Floyd_Gondolli]

1. This will go over like a wet fart in church here

The Marysville, OH plant is not unionized FYI.

On edit: It took only 2 minutes for someone to cry foul. I had 3 in my own estimation.

[sheshe2]

3. I was unaware of that fact.

Thank you for letting me know.

[Floyd_Gondolli]

6. I got no problem with it

I've bought two cars from Honda made in Marysville. My old Accord went for 300k miles before I replaced it.

While not unionized its my understanding these workers are paid quite well. They also do some good work. I'm not of the volition that because something isn't made with union labor it's automatically evil.

[byeya]

2. If autos are made in the USA they should be made with UAW labor.

[sheshe2]

5. I agree and was unaware of that fact.

I posted that to Floyd above.

You are correct they should be unionized.

[Populist_Prole]

4. It makes for nice headlines but it's specious

They always cite rare "man bites dog" examples of US exports of manufactured goods when they're trying to "soften up" resistance to free trade agreements. I'm surprised they haven't used the well-worn crutch of Boeing aircraft to help bolster their case. They are a drop in the bucket compared to the utter flood of imports these agreements bring about. Let's face it, the balance is so lopsided there is absolutely no way, no way-no day we can ever ever "export our way" out of the trade deficit. If you lose on every deal, it's not like you're going to make up for it in volume.

As others have pointed out, there's the issue of the workforce being non-union, which serves to hasten the race to the bottom and put further downward pressure on wages.

Sorry for coming across as a Gloomy Gus, but I've been hearing these same canards used by economists and corporate shills to push this garbage for 25+ years.

[Jim Lane]

8. It's specious for a different reason.

Just whom are we supposed to export to? If the problem in every major Western economy (plus Japan) is a low level of aggregate demand -- and that is the problem -- then, yes, any one economy could get around the problem by exporting to a country with high aggregate demand, but there is no such country (at least, not one that's clamoring to import a lot of stuff).

So, under those circumstances, how could we increase exports? Hey, I've got it! We enable our exporters to undersell their foreign competitors. We do that by weakening or eliminating unions, relaxing environmental regulations (including workplace safety), and providing subsidies, including the indirect subsidy of loan guarantees. That'll work... at least, it will until the other countries reading this report go the same route.

[pa28]

7. So Pete Peterson's economic think tank wants more free trade deals.

I'm sure any new ones will be very good for Pete Peterson anyway.