I don't know i'm just a kid.

So I was just thinking about how the economy is terrible, and how my gas tank hasn't been filled all summer because I simply can't afford it. My thought was, did we bring it on ourselves? One side of me is screaming "Of Course! What did you think was going to happen" while the other side of me says, "No one could have thought it would come to this." So here I am, conflicted and still finding no answers.

On one side, historically it has always been a priority to trade with different countries, especially when they had things that we didn't. Say bananas from South America and we would trade corn and what not to countries that didn't have any. But now trade isn't about who has what and who doesn't, it's about who has the cheapest and can get it here the fastest. Cheap or no-wage labor has always been something that America has relied on. First it was indentured servitude when the settlers got here, then slavery, then sharecropping (another form of indentured servitude), child labor. Then labor crossed borders, to Canada, Mexico, South America, Indonesia, and finally Eastern Asia (China, Korea, Tibet...) where we currently do most of our trade. Where we have come to import more than we export.

Does anyone remember the TIME magazine cover where Chairman Mao was wearing a suit of imitation Louis Vuitton print, and exclaiming that America's economy was floating on China's?

The TIME magazine cover.
That was in 2005 when gas was a little less than two dollars a gallon, Milk was $1.54 a gallon, and chinese cars were just starting to hit american soil. In 2005 Americans weren't feeling things as hard as they are now. But in that 3 year gap, that grim picture that was regarded as speculation is now the cold hard truth. We are now dependent on China's Imports, from importing food, to household objects and appliances, to the clothes and shoes we wear. When I worked at Nine West (shoe store) 9 times out of 10 every shipment we received was from china, and the other time I saw a non-chinese box, the shipment was from Guatemala. I never saw one American made product in that store, and I can say the same thing for Victoria's Secret (my current part-time employer)

Now I'm not saying boycott China, I mean they have no shame in their game and they are bona-fide hustlers. However, I am asking people to think, what do you gain by buying from China? Sure we saved a couple dollars (alright a lot!) by buying for cheap, but now that move has gone around and slapped us in the face. Prices are rising while wages are steadily decreasing. July is the 7th straight month where employers have cut jobs, and according to MSNBC the American economy has lost 463,000 Jobs this year and 5.7% of the population is jobless. Today on the news they said another problem is the fact that many full time workers are getting their jobs cut back to part-time. 32% in construction, 14% in Retail, and 13% in those oh-so-secure Business desk jobs. (they didn't report on the other 31%) So some of you are like well what is this connection to China? China has realized that they have us by the short and curlies. (Sorry to be so crude, but it's true) Seriously, try for a week to buy things that aren't made in China, it's seriously hard. If China upped the prices on those lovely and cheap goods....well I really don't want to think about that.

Cheap manufacturing isn't the only thing to worry about. China is now graduating well over a million scientists and engineers each year (National Bureau of Statistics 2005) compared to 25,000 in America. Just to put it into a ratio for every 1 US engineer or scientist that graduates 40 Chinese engineers or scientists graduate. So now the pressure is not on unskilled labor, but more on the skilled workers who are going to have to compete with China's sheer numbers (mad amounts of people) and technological advancements. China not only manufactures goods like textiles, garments, and simple commodities, they are manufacturing a good amount of technology like cameras (1/2 of the worlds), televisions (1/3 of the worlds), and even airplanes. (I was going to make a point here but my mind doesn't want to finish it)

I mean, I haven't even gotten started on the oil prices or the moral implications about buying from half of these countries. Our dependency on foreign imports has brought America to it's knees, and sadly we're the generation that's going to have to power (or bear) through it. Our only hope would be to trade with china's needs, for they now are the leading IMPORTER of iron ore, steel, copper, tin, zinc, aluminum, and nickel. Sadly, we barely produce anything anymore and therefore don't stand a chance, and unless you're on the creative side of the technology curve, you're gonna question your job security for maybe the next 30 years {speculation}. (and we don't even have careers yet.)

I don't know these are my thoughts.....gah. (I'm tired)

*Oh and it's not like I'm blaming Big Bad China for everything. China's being smart, by seeing they've got the upper hand on many things. I think it's the greed of a lot of companies looking for that cheap shortcut that has brought us here, and this economy crisis does not fall all on China....but I'm sure it plays a role somewhere*

PS: our trade deficit is $838,271,000,000.