The Emerging Third World US

[katty]

more: http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_francis__080225_the_emerging_third_w.htm

February 26, 2008 at 10:39:22

Headlined on 2/26/08:
The Emerging Third World US

by Francis Ferguson Page 1 of 2 page(s)

http://www.opednews.com

I have an expression I present to my economics classes. It has a certain impact: the US is a a third world nation, we just haven't realized it yet. Our emerging status isn't obvious. Products remain relatively cheap (energy excluded) despite the falling value of the dollar against most foreign currencies. But there are real signs.

Most Americans who are paying attention have noticed a long term decline in manufacturing jobs in the US. Quarter after quarter, year after year, the government reports job gains, but those gains are primarily in service industries: health care (we're not talking doctors, here), restaurants and bars, retail trade and, until recently, construction. A close examination of the figures will usually reveal a decline in manufacturing jobs. This is not an accident.

Over the past 30 years, American manufacturing has moved offshore at an accelerating rate. Walk through any big box store (or any other for that matter) and look where things are made. Overwhelmingly, it's China or other developing nations. The process is inexorable. With “Globalization” we have opened the world's borders to free trade in goods and services. On the one hand, this has presented opportunities for US manufacturers to expand profits by shifting production to countries where wages are a tiny fraction of those in the United States. Goods made abroad can be sold at an attractive price in the US while still allowing producers to increase the difference between price and total cost, otherwise known a profit. Those companies with a sense of national pride and identity are, finally, forced to move some or all of their production offshore in order to survive.

[scarletwoman]

1. k&r (nt)

[Hydra]

2. K&R for later reading

The title is completely correct, however. We're already dead in the water- we just don't know it yet.

[katty]

3. o yeah, we are