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Mailbag: Taking Apart the Trade Deficit

One reader shares his thoughts on the U.S. tech sector's $102 billion trade deficit:

I see the problem as twofold. One, the American lifestyle to which we have become accustomed has mutated into a self-centered gimme-gimme kind of mindset, where all things should be cheap and disposable.

The other is that other countries are actually CULTURES; the U.S. has no culture. So we stand alone, basically doing economic battle with people who are held together by their belief in what they are, often bound by an almost World War II-like desire to excel as a race. People in this country seem to hold Japanese and German (and probably all foreign) products in higher regard than our own. Why? Because they believe that those countries have pride in their work and that they are unified in their efforts to supply a superior product. Why do they believe that? Because they have jobs which reveal a total lack in ethics by their co-workers, and they see the low quality of work. Why is there a low quality of work? Because everything is cheap and disposable, you don't have to work hard, and you're not a team or a culture struggling for survival.

Myself, I know the value of the American worker, and I strive to buy not only U.S.-made, but also U.S.-owned. I willingly pay more, something most Americans refuse to do. I remember when all my server stuff was made in the U.S., and only small chips came from foreign markets. Now, companies like Intel are investing more in off-shore manufacturing, and you have to wonder when the technology will leave with the manufacturing. People have to be willing to sacrifice and keep those U.S. companies here, even if it means paying more for less.
-Mel

Tell us what you think! Leave a comment below or send an e-mail to [email protected].

Posted by Doug Barney on July 23, 2007


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