I'm with the wishful thinking. We should only deficit spend during a recession and balance the budget when we're booming. Yes we're in a recession now, don't I know it.
Balancing the budget during a recession is the single most sure-fire way to extend and deepen the recession. This is well documented and well accepted by everyone but FOX ditto heads.
Are you dyslexic? I said to balance when we're NOT in a recession!
I think he took your comment for sarcasm. I read it that way as well.
I'll say that's a fair assumption. But I am fiscally conservative, socially liberal. I don't think we should have a deficit in a booming economy is all. Again, I know the economy isn't booming at the moment.
Allow me to get home and pull up evidence because I've been typing at work on my phone.
That aside, how do you reconcile your supposed "fiscal conservatism" with the social side and the fact that the republican party is outright regressive on almost all social issues, actively fighting basic things like gay rights, contraception/abortive rights, and equal pay for women? They're certainly not backing down on these issues?
Or, how about their ridiculous ideas of foreign policy? They already led us into two wars, and appear to be itching to have a fight with Iran now.
Or, how about the massive differences between what Romney has been promising to his base for the last many months and what he's been saying now when reasonable people are paying attention? Which set of goals do you think he's going to actually pursue?
The best argument I've heard in response to Clinton being able to balance the budget was that he was able to do it because we were in the midst of the dot-com bubble, flush with an incredible economy.
Or, how do you rationalize the idea of smaller government spending vs increase to defense spending, when our own military says we can (and should) cut back? As a fiscal conservative, this is a pretty big hurdle to clear with the current Republican party.
The best argument I've heard in response to Clinton being able to balance the budget was that he was able to do it because we were in the midst of the dot-com bubble, flush with an incredible economy.
The real reason is that Medicare and SS spending were about a third of there currently level. Medicare D is expensive, but really the baby boomers are now starting to retire. That thing we said that would bankrupt the country unless we made serious reforms has started to happen and we made no reforms. This is compounded by the economic slump blunting tax revenue.
The Kindle could be made here, just cost a bit more.
It's not quite that simple, although that's good that Lenova is bringing PC manufacturing back, and hopefully it is the start of the trend (I hadn't heard that and will need to look it up). Did you see this article? A bit old (a year or so) but still relevant.
The U.S. has lost or is on the verge of losing its ability to develop and manufacture a slew of high-tech products. Amazon’s Kindle 2 couldn’t be made in the U.S., even if Amazon wanted to:
The flex circuit connectors are made in China because the US supplier base migrated to Asia.
The electrophoretic display is made in Taiwan because the expertise developed from producting flat-panel LCDs migrated to Asia with semiconductor manufacturing.
The highly polished injection-molded case is made in China because the U.S. supplier base eroded as the manufacture of toys, consumer electronics and computers migrated to China.
The wireless card is made in South Korea because that country became a center for making mobile phone components and handsets.
The controller board is made in China because U.S. companies long ago transferred manufacture of printed circuit boards to Asia.
The Lithium polymer battery is made in China because battery development and manufacturing migrated to China along with the development and manufacture of consumer electronics and notebook computers.
So it's a systematic loss of competitiveness in a number of fields, in the case of the Kindle. I suspect (though can't prove) you'd see similar stuff with other tech, aside from Apple devices.
The Kindle could be made here, just cost a bit more.
Depends on what you mean by "made here." If you mean the low skill assembly crap that's done in China, then perhaps, albeit at a higher cost as you said. If you're talking about the actual good jobs, probably not as this CNN article illustrates.
To summarize the article, which uses iPhones and iPads as the example instead of Kindles, only about $6.50 of the iPhone's cost and $12 of the iPad's cost is actually the cost of assembly in China. The other $172 or so of cost concerns various components that are made in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Germany, all of which are countries where wages and corporate taxes are comparable, if not higher, than in the US. The problem is that we don't have enough of the technically skilled people to do the jobs of making chips and other high-tech components in this country. If we had the right skilled work force, we could at least build all the expensive parts of the iPhone and then leave only the "dumb labor," if you will, to China. Unfortunately, our labor force is roughly as skilled as China's and costs more.
Parts can be sourced from Asia with assembly in the US. If enough companies (or Apple) moved manufacturing back to the US the factories would soon follow.
Parts can be sourced from Asia with assembly in the US. If enough companies (or Apple) moved manufacturing back to the US the factories would soon follow.
The Lenova move was recently covered by CNET.
Would that really be a lot of jobs, though? Highly paid, highly skilled jobs? We're talking about, finally assembly of the final product, right?
Looks like Lenova is doing final assembly in the US.
Maybe I'm just optimistic but I do believe a company such as Apple can certainly afford to manufacture in the US. If they start others will follow.
There are also certain benefits in the legal side of things. If you actually manufacture in the US you need not worry about import bans and it is easier to get import bans against competitors.
To me, they feel a little more responsible than democrats.
This is the key strength of the Republicans; they're the party of feels. You don't need facts when you have feels. If facts contradict your feels, the facts must be wrong, or irrelevant or a trap or biased or something.
To me, they feel a little more responsible than democrats.
This is the key strength of the Republicans; they're the party of feels. You don't need facts when you have feels. If facts contradict your feels, the facts must be wrong, or irrelevant or a trap or biased or something.
Funny, I could say the same thing about the democrats.
Comments
Or, how about their ridiculous ideas of foreign policy? They already led us into two wars, and appear to be itching to have a fight with Iran now.
Or, how about the massive differences between what Romney has been promising to his base for the last many months and what he's been saying now when reasonable people are paying attention? Which set of goals do you think he's going to actually pursue?
The Kindle could be made here, just cost a bit more.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevedenning/2011/08/17/why-amazon-cant-make-a-kindle-in-the-usa/
Here's the (most) important bits: So it's a systematic loss of competitiveness in a number of fields, in the case of the Kindle. I suspect (though can't prove) you'd see similar stuff with other tech, aside from Apple devices.
To summarize the article, which uses iPhones and iPads as the example instead of Kindles, only about $6.50 of the iPhone's cost and $12 of the iPad's cost is actually the cost of assembly in China. The other $172 or so of cost concerns various components that are made in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, and Germany, all of which are countries where wages and corporate taxes are comparable, if not higher, than in the US. The problem is that we don't have enough of the technically skilled people to do the jobs of making chips and other high-tech components in this country. If we had the right skilled work force, we could at least build all the expensive parts of the iPhone and then leave only the "dumb labor," if you will, to China. Unfortunately, our labor force is roughly as skilled as China's and costs more.
The Lenova move was recently covered by CNET.
Maybe I'm just optimistic but I do believe a company such as Apple can certainly afford to manufacture in the US. If they start others will follow.
There are also certain benefits in the legal side of things. If you actually manufacture in the US you need not worry about import bans and it is easier to get import bans against competitors.