Okay...I think I'll be a vegetarian now

[MamaMia]

:confused:

http://rense.com/general76/mela.htm

I think I'm going to be sick...

http://www.gadsdentimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070430/ZNYT01/704300337/-1/ZNYT

[sooner_born_1960]

Why the hell are we buying food from China, anyway.

[royalfan5]

Why the hell are we buying food from China, anyway.
Cause people think ethanol is a great idea.

[Vaevictis]

Pfft, it's not like it'll help. In a few months, there'll be similar problems with vegetables from some farm in California that forgot to tell their workers not to **** in the irrigation system.

[sooner_born_1960]

Ethanol has it's place. In my beverages.

[MamaMia]

Why the hell are we buying food from China, anyway.
I don't understand why we're buy anything from other countries. Do we not have enough workers, land and resources to take care of our citizens? Would we not be a richer nation if we did for ourselves? Is it the unions? If not, then what is going on that we are letting foreigners have control over us?

[royalfan5]

I don't understand why we're buy anything from other countries. Do we not have enough workers, land and resources to take care of our citizens? Would we not be a richer nation if we did for ourselves? Is it the unions? If not, then what is going on that we are letting foreigners have control over us?
If we did everything for ourselves we would be a much, much, poorer nation. The United States benefits immensely from international trade as does the rest of the world.

[TheHumanAlphabet]

Why the hell are we buying food from China, anyway.

$$$$$

Now we know why they're cheaper...

[TheHumanAlphabet]

My wife and I discussed this the other day. Based on my personal experience with projects in China, I am not surprised by this.

We will no longer purchase imported food from China, but seek to replace or use those products (which were few anyway) with local or 1st world produced products.

I only hope that the food producers replace their gluten and other food grade products from Chinese manufacturer's to more transparent producers.

[MamaMia]

If we did everything for ourselves we would be a much, much, poorer nation. The United States benefits immensely from international trade as does the rest of the world.
I'm sorry but I still don't understand. :confused:

How can that be? If Americans did all the making, growing and selling of the goods and items that we need, then more money would stay in our pockets instead of be in the pockets of foreigners. Then, people who offer services would be better off since more Americans could afford their services. Foreigners only pay for services when they're visiting.

[Vaevictis]

If you're spending more on food, you're spending less on something else.

It might not make a big deal to someone in the middle/upper middle class, but for someone earning on the low end of the scale, $5/loaf of bread would hurt, a lot.

[royalfan5]

I'm sorry but I still don't understand. :confused:

How can that be? If Americans did all the making, growing and selling of the goods and items that we need, then more money would stay in our pockets instead of be in the pockets of foreigners. Then, people who offer services would be better off since more Americans could afford their services. Foreigners only pay for services when they're visiting.
Because you are ignoring the gains from specialization. Because the United States specializes, and engages in trade with other nations, it creates a better production possibilities frontier, and allows United States consumers to reach a higher indifference curve. If America closed off its economy, the production possibilities would be much lower, and Americas economic strengths would not be able to exploited near as well. During the 1920's and 1930's the United States closed off their economy from the rest of the world, and things fell apart. The United States post war growth can be directly linked to opening of world wide markets though Bretton Woods and GATT.

[Vaevictis]

Foreigners only pay for services when they're visiting.

And this isn't entirely true, there are a lot of American companies that make big bucks on services overseas, and there are quite a few foreigners that buy services within the United States from overseas, especially in the technology services industry.

At my last job, we earned about half of our revenue, to the tune of several million a year, from foreigners to deliver services from within the USA.

[yermom]

I'm sorry but I still don't understand. :confused:

How can that be? If Americans did all the making, growing and selling of the goods and items that we need, then more money would stay in our pockets instead of be in the pockets of foreigners. Then, people who offer services would be better off since more Americans could afford their services. Foreigners only pay for services when they're visiting.

also when Long Duk Dong gets paid a nickel a day to farm rice, it's cheaper to buy it from his country ;)

[Taxman71]

From a practical standpoint, look how well the countries who do not trade with the U.S. fare financially....commie Russia, Cuba, North Korea, et al. No trade would bring bankruptcy.

[MamaMia]

It all just seems so complicated to me.

[GottaHavePride]

Labor is cheaper in other countries. Farming is an especially labor-intensive industry. In fact, the only thing keeping most American farming in business is massive government subsidies. If we tried to shift to using purely American sources to feed this entire country,we'd probably at least double (if not far, far more) the price of every single item of food that you buy. And when that much of a person's income is devoted just to eating, they have no extra money to spend on anything else, and the rest of our economy comes crashing down around our ears.

[Frozen Sooner]

RoyalFan knows his economics.

Even if absolute advantages didn't exist in agriculture, many third-world countries would have comparative advantages over us in this sector.

[MamaMia]

Wouldn't it be nice if we could just barter like in the old days? We've done that at the clinic. Thats how I got my custom drapes and bedding. Then we traded for the walls in our home to be painted. :)

[GottaHavePride]

We DO still barter. But instead of hauling around the actual items we're going to trade with us, we replace them with bits of paper that represent the value of those items. ;)

[Shamrock]

We will no longer purchase imported food from China, but seek to replace or use those products (which were few anyway) with local or 1st world produced products.



That sounds easy, but just like buying an "American" car, how much of the product is purely home made in the US? Additives, fertilizers, etc will still be a partial content of any product, and just because it's from an American company in Iowa doesn't mean that 100% of the content is from the US.

[MamaMia]

We DO still barter. But instead of hauling around the actual items we're going to trade with us, we replace them with bits of paper that represent the value of those items. ;)
Sometimes the bits of barter paper I get turns into rubber. :P

[TheHumanAlphabet]

That sounds easy, but just like buying an "American" car, how much of the product is purely home made in the US? Additives, fertilizers, etc will still be a partial content of any product, and just because it's from an American company in Iowa doesn't mean that 100% of the content is from the US.

Yeah, I know the difficulty here. But at least, we won't be buying a food product direct from China where there is little if any regulation. Those people are dying all the time from contaminated food. Perhaps using a U.S. or 1st world company, any suspect additives used may be dilluted somewhat...

[tommieharris91]

Because you are ignoring the gains from specialization. Because the United States specializes, and engages in trade with other nations, it creates a better production possibilities frontier, and allows United States consumers to reach a higher indifference curve. If America closed off its economy, the production possibilities would be much lower, and Americas economic strengths would not be able to exploited near as well. During the 1920's and 1930's the United States closed off their economy from the rest of the world, and things fell apart. The United States post war growth can be directly linked to opening of world wide markets though Bretton Woods and GATT.

I don't think my Int'l Trade professor could have explained it better.

[royalfan5]

Labor is cheaper in other countries. Farming is an especially labor-intensive industry. In fact, the only thing keeping most American farming in business is massive government subsidies. If we tried to shift to using purely American sources to feed this entire country,we'd probably at least double (if not far, far more) the price of every single item of food that you buy. And when that much of a person's income is devoted just to eating, they have no extra money to spend on anything else, and the rest of our economy comes crashing down around our ears.
That's not entirely true. If anything the subsidies make it harder for farmers to turn a profit because they jack up land costs and stimulate overproduction. The gov't likes the cheap food and the excess production because we have long used grain as an incentive in foreign policy, e.g Public Law 480 and it's encouragement of exports. Cheap grain from the United States helped the Soviet Union last about 18 years longer than it should have. For example, cost of production on a bushel of a corn is right around $2. Most farmers get more than $2 out of their corn even in bad years. The assumption that farming would not survive in the United States without subsidies is completely false. If nothing else, our technological advantage will always make us the low cost producer in coarse grains.

[LoyalFan]

I don't understand why we're buy anything from other countries. Do we not have enough workers, land and resources to take care of our citizens? Would we not be a richer nation if we did for ourselves? Is it the unions? If not, then what is going on that we are letting foreigners have control over us?

Well, there ARE some fruits 'n veggies we can't grow here. MM.
Frankly, I believe that the lousy Commie Chink Rat Bastadges are willfully attempting to poison us in preparation for an attack...no kidding. Also, if the tainted stuff kills a wad of them, they consider that a blessing as well. That overpopulation thing, y'know.

As for me, I'm starting to like the taste of the safe foods. Anyone got a few good recipes for SAND?

LF

[TheHumanAlphabet]

... Also, if the tainted stuff kills a wad of them, they consider that a blessing as well. That overpopulation thing, y'know.

LF

Well they ARE proud of the "One-child" rule as helping out Global Warming...:eek:

[StoopTroup]

No imported liquor?

There would be panic in the streets.

[GottaHavePride]

No imported liquor?

There would be panic in the streets.

It would kill the margarita industry, that's for sure.

And I bow before royalfan5's superior economic knowledge. ;)