Economics discussion

Screwed!: How Foreign Countries Are Ripping America Off and Plundering Our Economy-and How Our Leaders Help Them Do It
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Nancy Mills (nancyfaym) | 25 comments I am listening to this audiobook and finding it very disturbing. Apparently GE is doing business with China and allowing sensitive and valuable technology to be stolen (?) Also, the artificial devaluation of the Chinese currency, aggravating the lopsided balance of trade between the US and China. The trade deficit is bad. The loss of US jobs and with it, the loss of a decent and respectable lifestyle for workers, is worse. Any comments?


message 2: by Jake (new)

Jake | 3 comments Let the Chinese have "our" technology. I put "our" in quotes because ideas, e.g. technology, are not any individual or group's property. China + US technology = competition. Competition only benefits the consumer. Of course, US companies hate competition, which is why capitalism doesn't exist in the US.

I'm not sure what the focus on China's currency devaluation is for. I think it better to focus on the US's own currency devaluation which is been going on ever since 1913.


Nancy Mills (nancyfaym) | 25 comments "our" meaning technology derived from entrepreneur and company research and investment, often very expensive in terms of time, money and resources. I imagine it is very disheartening for an entrepreneur to throw his heart and life into an idea and then a product, only to be snatched by Chinese (government owned) manufacturers to be produced en masse by $200 a month laborers.


message 4: by Jake (new)

Jake | 3 comments Nancy wrote: ""our" meaning technology derived from entrepreneur and company research and investment, often very expensive in terms of time, money and resources. I imagine it is very disheartening for an entrepr..."

Yep. Life is hard. There are ways to end it if one cannot handle it. An act that causes disheartening is not a valid reason to disallow the act.


Nancy Mills (nancyfaym) | 25 comments One's own or those of one's adversaries.


message 6: by Jake (new)

Jake | 3 comments Both. Obviously, killing another is illegal.


Nancy Mills (nancyfaym) | 25 comments in some cases


message 8: by John (new)

John | 15 comments What solutions do the authors suggest? I haven't read the book. I'm not convinced that a trade deficit is inherently bad but that probably deserves it's own topic thread. We should also consider a thread for the role of money. If it is to be a store of value (a chimerical idea in my opinion) then we should be outraged at the cumulative deflation of the US dollar as Jake suggests. If Adam Smith and others are right, then money is an unproductive asset that is only useful as a medium of exchange and some level of money depreciation is attractive because it incentivizes people to keep less in an unproductive asset and more in productive investments.


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