Have economists gone mad?

Question

I don't understand why economists are going gaga over China and India. China is a 4-trillion dollar economy. India is a 2-trillion dollar economy. America is a 14-TRILLION DOLLAR ECONOMY. China and India are babies compared to us. About their growth, of course a baby will grow faster than an adult. I don't understand all the hype behind these two countries. Not to mention that Chinese and Indians are among the poorest in the world. Most of China and India are underdeveloped. It's only the big cities like Shangai, Mumbai, Hong Kong that are shown on TV.
American economy is HUGE.

Not to mention that America is the only country that allows anyone to pursue their goals through free choice and hard work. India is also following this route, which is why 4 out of the 10 richest people are Indian. That's cool.

Answer 1

Sorry to burst your bubble mate America is a continent not a country, The United States of America however is a country, hence its name lol the USA or US of A not just A

Answer 2

Because nothing stays the same, everything changes and that my friend is the part that you have ignored.



You have assumed, very wrongly, that just because they are considably behind us economy wise does not mean they can't catch up.



Further, we could out produce them per worker in the USA, but considering there are less then 200 million workers in the USA as opposed to 800 million in China, they can, in affect, per worker only do 1/4 of our production and still meet ours. Just think what would happen when they out produce by an equal factor. Not 14 trillion, how about 56 trillion.



There is a lot more to this then what I have posted here. I would suggest you try to find " Will China and India Dominate the 21st Century Global Economy" a lecture by a college professor that spells a lot of that out and how we can benefit from it, even though we will end up being 2nd or 3rd behind China and India.



Peace

Jim



.

Answer 3

the glass is half empty

or the glass is half full



yes my friend, we certainly are a $14 trillion dollar economy

but, we are currently $10.6 trillion dollars in debt

and if obama's big black stimulus package gets passed?

then we'll be $11.5 trillion dollars in debt

$14 trillion doesn't look so good reduced down to $2.5 trillion does it?

also, we paid $480 billion dollars ALONE in compound interest for 2008

not the principle, just the interest



it took us from 1914 to 1986 to build up a $4 trillion dollar economy

it took china only 20 years

india had 60 years and they're only $2 trillion



our highest GDP ever was 5%

china's was 25% in 1992



sure, china's got a tiny $4 trillion dollar economy, but they also have $2 trillion dollars in surplus, and $781 billion in U.S. treasury bonds



lastly, many of their people may be living in poverty, but at least they are not in debt with car leases, mortgages, installments on laptops, tvs, etc. so the bankruptcy laws made by their communist government won't f**k them up the @$$ when the financial storm hits.



hope you see a new perspective

Answer 4

Using your analogy of children and adults - adults also die and that is what is happening to the US economy.



They will rise because you fall and heres how?



Take the US motor industry for example - the US taxpayer is throwing billions of dollars to support it. But it is still paying huge salaries to people to produce huge cars that are sitting in a yard waiting for customers to buy them. Only they aren't they are buying small Japanese cars that are built in China and India at a fraction of the cost that those in Detroit. US Jobs are lost whilst more are created in China and India. Additionally US call centres are being outsourced to India - less US jobs more Indian.



Banking that is huge in New York and London is also moving east - the money men are setting up in Hong Kong and Dubai . Wall Street will not be the Financial capital of the word.





The US has a huge trade deficit and that is only going to get worse.





I also think that you have your facts wrong about the US being the only country allowed to pursue their goals through free choice and hard work - that is true of any democracy. And whilst yes India and China have slums - have you been to some of the trailer parks in the US. Do you realise that over 15% of the population have no health care?

Answer 5

"Not to mention that America is the only country that allows anyone to pursue their goals through free choice and hard work"

What a stunningly ignorant thing to say. A great many nations base their economies on this premise.



As for India and China falling - wrong again.

While they are expected to slow down they are not expected to fall into negative growth as we are.





Attention - are you really trying to pretend that tax rates, not labor costs are the main reason for offshoring of jobs? Do you really expect anyone to believe you?

Answer 6

economists are starting to realize one very simple truth...



in today's world, only a few resources will matter, and right now, the most important resource is people...



and China and India have plenty....



a huge population keeps producation costs down, due to gross competition for jobs...



and a HUGE market is also available...



small example... Wal-Mart's business grew like 20 percent in 2007, if I remember corrrectly...



yet it's domestic U.S. sales were flat...



it grew like 30 percent in foriegn markets... it moved into a "medium" size city in China that had 6 million people in it... NYC has 6 million people...



it's just so large it's mind boggling and it is a huge resource...



it's water, oil and people... that's what it's all going to be about in 20 years....



and the world is getting flat...

Answer 7

You make some excellent points.



Testicles put his finger on much of our dilemma--corporate tax rates are way above most developing countries. Jobs are going to where the costs are reasonable.



What so few people realize is that the root of most of our problem has to do with our obsession with "equal opportunity." Think about it, really, for awhile. We have allowed the government to play such an oppressive role in killing free enterprise and free association and the proper privilege of productive people to be allowed to discriminate as to how and with whom they engage in activity, etc., that we have become almost the opposite of a free-enterprise system.



We are obsessed with "diversity" to the point where our myopia about ensuring and enforcing equal outcomes has all but murdered standards, performance incentives, and personal responsibility...



Freedom and equality cannot coexist. The Founding Fathers were intending to protect equal rights, not equal outcomes, and they really meant equal rights among all men as opposed to the "divine right of kings" that they rebelled against and threw off from King George. They did NOT mean to say that all men are or should be equal in character, privileges, outcomes, etc.--they merely meant to say that in terms of basic liberty and property, life, discriminations, we have no higher authority than our own consciences, and they never meant for it all to become this runaway entitlement mentality that says banks should be forced to make loans to unqualified minorities.

Answer 8

Testicles you continue to be a wonder. The reason American business CEOs have outsourced to off-shore locations is they don't want to pay ANY taxes while they rake in billions in this country where they are safe from the threat of nationalization. American oil companies btw have enjoyed wonderful subsidies and land grants for many, many years. Maybe if they all tried paying their fair share, we wouldn't be in quite the mess we are at the moment. This is one you hair brains can not lay at President Obama's door - it's strictly a Republican deal. Money and tax breaks for the oil companies in return for?

Answer 9

Yes but the American economy is deeply flawed right now.

We have the 2nd highest business tax rates of all developed countries. And people wonder why businesses are shipping jobs overseas to places like INDIA and CHINA

Answer 10

Yes, because Obama is practically warning all of us who know nothing about economics. Obama has signalled that he is depressed and warns it is much worse than he ever imagined. He has opened a can of worms.

Answer 11

...."That America is the only country" ????? America is a continent , The United States of America is a country!.

Answer 12

How about that America owes has about 50 Trillion dollars in national debt... and our economy is fucked???

Answer 13

America, China, India....all are the same...vast wealth among a tiny few at the top.. created on the sweat of laborers who had no life, like health benefits or money or time for fun. Just lives of misery.

Answer 14

We are on our way to being a third world nation. Our government is our worst enemy. He will cause soup lines with his pork payback bill

Answer 15

No, but the present Administration has to make us think it has, so they can swindle the taxpayers into paying for their pork projects.