Re:U.S. may put emergency tariffs on solar imports
by Arizhel on Tuesday May 30, 2017 @10:19AM
(#14445544)
Most of the jobs you're talking about are absolutely useless to people in foreign nations. People in China don't care about your child protection case workers, health care workers, utility workers, construction workers, and teachers, because they have zero effect on their economy. What incentive is there for people in China to manufacture stuff and send it to your country if you have absolutely nothing to offer in return for trade? International trade only works when you have stuff to trade; you can't run an economy based on consumption only, and have the rest of the world working hard to provide you stuff to consume. That "buying power" comes from your nation exporting something, whether it's manufactured goods, specialized services, etc. Otherwise, it's eventually going to fall apart. What does the US export?
Jobs of some sort. Teachers, construction workers, health care workers, programmers. Farmers, utility workers, electricians and craftsmen of different sorts. Case workers for the country's child protection agency. Folks that speak the local language who work in call centers. Sure, some of these are low-paying jobs, but lets face it: so are some factory jobs (i've worked in one and had friend that worked in others, which pay a little above minimum wage).
Simply put, you aren't going to ship off all the jobs. So they aren't the best at manufacturing? So what? Obviously, if they have buying power, the country has some other strengths. They simply wouldn't show up when looking at manufacturing only.