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Originally Posted by Skerlnik
That's what I'm worried about. In order to have a reasonable trade balance, we'd have to have exportable goods, I would think. If we allow ourselves to outsource everything, and de-emphasize making anything, I don't see how that would be favorable.
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It wouldn't be favorable to the US; but I'm sure folks on the other side of the pond would love it!
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I'd certainly much rather deal from a position of strength, especially if we can pay this debt down.
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The debt is just one small part of the problem. The real problem is that our economy is a credit-based economy instead of a pay-as-you-go economy. Part of the result of this is that the dollar hasn't really been worth the paper it's printed on since the Federal Reserve took us off the gold standard. When there is nothing backing a currency, the currency is essentially worthless.
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Unless there's something I am missing in the big picture about how we'll stay afloat based purely on a service economy......
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I don't think it's possible.
__________________
A panda walks into a cafe. He orders a sandwich, eats it, then draws a gun and fires two shots in the air.
"Why?" asks the confused waiter, as the panda makes toward the exit. The panda produces a badly punctuated wildlife manual and tosses it over his shoulder.
"I'm a panda," he says at the door. "Look it up."
The waiter turns to the relevant entry and, sure enough, finds an explanation.
"Panda. Large black-and-white bear-like mammal, native to China. Eats, shoots and leaves."
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