Only 5% of Americans actually make anything...

[Sikander]

I get about 6 weeks of vacation a year.

[Az]

Sweet

[DanS]

Originally posted by Smiley
Usually increased productivity also leads to a shorter workweek and/or more vacation. This was true for the US as well, until recently. What happened?

I don't know. It's a mystery. It has been like this for 30 years or more.

(Although I do get 5 weeks vacation, which is very uncommon.)

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by Ell_man
So next time someone asks you about the trade deficit say, "Oh you mean the foreign investment surplus?"

Buying stock isn't really foreign investment. It's foreign speculation. Foreign investment would be building factories and the like, which is happeneing, but not to the extent that a $60 billion a month trade deficit shows.

[Colonâ„¢]

Originally posted by Ell_man
So next time someone asks you about the trade deficit say, "Oh you mean the foreign investment surplus?"

Ummm yeah, foreign "investment" you're using to keep up your consumptions habbits regardless. The current account deficit is the result of a households' deficit and a gov't deficit, not because of a corporate sector's deficit.

[:) Smiley]

If that's the case then we're headed to not foreign, but corporate takeover of both government and household affairs.

[chequita guevara]

Headed?

[Colonâ„¢]

Originally posted by Smiley
If that's the case then we're headed to not foreign, but corporate takeover of both government and household affairs.

[Adam Smith]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara Buying stock isn't really foreign investment. It's foreign speculation. Foreign investment would be building factories and the like

Building factories is what companies do with the proceeeds from selling stock.

but not to the extent that a $60 billion a month trade deficit shows.

As foreigners invest more in the US, interest rates drop. The beneficiaries are anybody who has a mortgage, finances a car, takes out loans for college, etc., paying far less than they otherwise would. This is the HUGE benefit we have been getting from trade for the last decade or so. Most popular commentators completely overlook this.

[Propaganda]

Originally posted by chegitz guevara

Originally posted by mrmitchell
chegitz:

I thought wealth came from labor. Not necessarily exploitation of the Earth's resources to manufacture something- just any useful work.

Am I wrong?

The Ricardian theory of value, to which Marxists adhere, seems to indicate that services do not create new wealth. What services do is help realize the surplus value inherent in commodities. At least that's what the book I'm currently reading (A History of Marxian Economics: Volume 1, 1883 - 1929 by M.C. Howard and J.E. King, Princeton University Press, 1989) seems to say.

This means that what I've thought for a while may be incorrect (i.e., that services create value). Since I'm not well enough versed in Marxian economics, let alone classical political economy, I'm not in a position to say. I need to do more study.

Which is a long winded way of saying, I don't know.

In Marxist terms, the value of a service is only as good as its mechanical parts, i.e. computers, telephones, etc. So, in effect, the value of a service is elastic, and not independent because inherently such is a by-product of the manufacturing industry and is dependent upon it.

You may argue, however, that manufacturing is dependent upon services, but not in Marxist terms. Manufacturing output is the base economic indicator in a socialist economy, while all other sectors expand from the base.

Just my $0.02 cents.

[Propaganda]

Technically, measuring economic growth based on gross (manufacturing) output has been historically attributed to Stalin. In fact, this is most likely what attributed to the Soviet Union's success. In the 70's, however, Soviet growth slowed, most likely, due to Soviet economists' obsession with profit indicators(instead of gross output) and a lack of planning.