Re: RE: EPI Paper on U.S. FDI in China

[Dennis R Redmond]

On Fri, 12 May 2000, Lisa & Ian Murray wrote:

> Lets see, US firms make the stuff in China then send it back duty free to
> sell to US consumers [or anywhere else]; just what does trade deficit mean
> in this circumstance?  My guess is zilch.

Well, it does mean something in the comparative sense that Japan and the
EU run big trade surpluses in their good sectors vis-a-vis the US, and
they're just as globalized as we are. This suggests, in turn, that the
mighty US economy is far less mighty than Wall Street would like us to
believe, that deep structural problems are being papered over by a
financial bubble. Usually, peripheries run huge deficits with metropoles,
not the other way around.

-- Dennis