In article , Ed Huntress
says...

But I don't see any way that wages are going to drop drastically. The
Chinese are competing in only a few small segments of our economy. I doubt
if they're actually in competition with more than maybe 15% of our workers.
The US economy is exceptionally flexible and it seems much more likely that
people will simply find other work before they'll work in manufacturing for
a fraction of the present wages.

Ok, but maybe you have to include the countries that are
syphoning off the more service, software oriented jobs,
like India? And don't forget, it's often quoted that
the 15 percent number you mention above is direct
manufacturing jobs - but there's another two or three
service jobs that go along with one of those. So a
bleak-minded individual might say those service jobs
will go too, so the real number might be 30 percent or
more.

I worry more about the social structure of an economy that doesn't provide
the entrepreneurial opportunities and the good wages provided by a strong
manufacturing base. Those jobs will continue to drain away, inevitably,
perhaps. But the natural process would be a slow movement. The radical
surges of imports we're experiencing aren't part of any natural evolution.

I would think that one think the present adminstration should do
here is to keep changes from happening too rapidly - they should
do all in their power to be *true* conservatives. Instead I see
things like the proposed federal rules that will pre-empt all
the state banking regulations, and put the banks beholden only
to the weaker federal laws. Who thought that one up?? It sounds
like a recipie for 1929 all over again.

That, and the fact that the largest year ever for bankrupcies
has been - last year.

Jim

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