U.S.-China trade imbalance has harmed U.S.
January 1st, 2012, 12:00 am ? ? posted by Betty Talbert, letters editor
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LAGUNA WOODS, Jennifer Marks: I usually agree with columnist Walter E. Williams, but he needs to stay away from the subject of international trade. He is not an expert on it. In ?China trade fuss ignores facts? [Dec. 27], he debunks the idea that the U.S.-China trade imbalance is harming our economy. His analysis incorrectly lumps together domestic consumer spending on goods with domestic consumer spending on services. He concludes that only a small fraction of this spending goes to China, and, by doing so, he lumps together apples and oranges.
Manufactured products are not consumer services. Of course, most service providers, like doctors, lawyers, accountants, beauticians and cab drivers, are Americans. In every country, service providers are almost always local people. You are not going to hire a hairstylist in China.
A correct analysis would have left out spending on services and calculated Chinese-manufactured goods as a percentage of all goods purchased in the United States. These numbers would not look nearly as rosy. If, as Williams claims, 16 percent of all U.S. purchases of goods and services were manufactured abroad, probably 32 percent of all manufactured goods were made overseas. That would mean that almost one-third of all goods purchased in the United States were made elsewhere. That is a large percentage and one that could harm our country, particularly if those countries do not reciprocate by buying our manufactured goods in return.
China protects and assists its businesses and industries. They make it hard for foreign businesses to operate in their country. For example, China does not allow foreigners to run a company there. An American wanting to open a plant in China must select a Chinese business partner, whether he wants one or not.
The Chinese government supports businesses and industries in China and recognizes that manufacturing prosperity is essential to economic development.
The U.S. government often acts like business is the enemy of the people. Their anti-business attitudes have driven jobs and whole industries out of this country. Just look at how the Obama administration has been persecuting Boeing, one of our more successful companies. They tried to block Boeing from building another airplane plant in another state. Would they prefer that Boeing just pack up and move their operations overseas?
Finally, Williams? editorial fails to mention intellectual property theft, such as pirated CD?s and the theft of patented U.S. technology, which is endemic in China. He also fails to discuss currency manipulation.
MISSION VIEJO, Bill Chase: I am a Walter E. Williams fan; however, I take exception to much of what was in his column on Dec. 27. He references the value of the imports. Of course, the dollar value is low, and labor and all other costs are lower in China. And costs are lower especially if you steal industrial secrets to develop and manufacture products.
Also, comparing dollar figures from 1980 to today without using inflation references is misleading. The bottom line is that China really is a big culprit in our unemployment problems. Sending money borrowed from China back to them in aid money compounds the issue. The Chinese government is not our friend.
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