America: The World`s Leech

[Ben Franklin]

The decline of the US economy (http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Global_Economy/GL17Dj01.html)

One would have to look closely at American society, its education, government and business to see that many of these segments have become ossified bureaucratic structures that work with exceptional inefficiency and are shielded from any control from market or government. With all the importance of the European economy, it is not Europe that constitutes the major threat for the American economy. The battering ram that could destroy it is coming from Asia, mostly China. The American economy is increasingly unable to compete with Asian goods, and the situation will be worse in the future.

The global community, or at least much of it, wishes to diminish the US role in global affairs, but very few wish it to collapse. With an interdependent global economy and the dollar as the global currency, the collapse of the US would send a shock wave all over the world, leading to unpredictable and possibly global catastrophic consequences similar to those that followed the Great Depression of 1929. Thus, the logic of self-interest has compelled the world community, including China and other Asian countries, to prop up the American economy. The problem, however, is that people in general are not always logical, and those who make predictions about the economic future of America and the world should always remember this.

Well...?　What now for America...? Since the service sector is not picking up the slack, China is dominating the export market and American R&D has been surpassed by the Japanese, what else can be done...? USA, it`s your move.

[Straylight]

USA, it`s your move.

Many American companies, taking a cue from the IT industry, are shifting towards a customized "solutions" approach, where service, sales, marketing, manufacturing, and r & d become one. It breeds innovation and customer satisfaction in ways that the other model couldn't. It's a paradigm shift that many other competing economies haven't quite caught up on as of yet, and it's rallying back many consumers to the American market. Sooner or later, others will catch on, but China has only recently immersed itself knee deep in the old school way of thinking....Sooner or later, it'll be "their move" to adjust.

[Ben Franklin]

Many American companies, taking a cue from the IT industry, are shifting towards a customized "solutions" approach, where service, sales, marketing, manufacturing, and r & d become one. It breeds innovation and customer satisfaction in ways that the other model couldn't. It's a paradigm shift that many other competing economies haven't quite caught up on as of yet, and it's rallying back many consumers to the American market. Sooner or later, others will catch on, but China has only recently immersed itself knee deep in the old school way of thinking....Sooner or later, it'll be "their move" to adjust.

But it's only within the domestic market, isn't it...? America is still the greatest debtor nation to date, so how will this fix the dollar glut...?

America: The World's Largest Debtor Nation (http://www.theologyweb.com/campus/showthread.php?t=63532)

[Ryokan]

But it's only within the domestic market, isn't it...? America is still the greatest debtor nation to date, so how will this fix the dollar glut...?

America: The World's Largest Debtor Nation (http://www.theologyweb.com/campus/showthread.php?t=63532)
THE US's debt is moderate, by global standards. Especially compared to, say, Japan. I don't like our debt, but...

[Ben Franklin]

THE US's debt is moderate, by global standards. Especially compared to, say, Japan. I don't like our debt, but...

Japan is a sinking ship, fer shure, dude... It was recently reported that the Japanese birthrate is now exceeded by it's mortality rate:

Japan Sounds Alarm On Birth Rate (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4065647.stm)

Japan currently has one of the lowest birth rates in the world. Discrimination in the workplace and poor government policies have been blamed for deterring many Japanese women from having children.

Unless women here start having more babies, the population in Japan is expected to shrink more than 20% by the middle of this century. Nearly half would be elderly, placing impossible burdens on the health and pension systems.

The pension population will be outstripping the working population, creating an unmanageable burden on the fewer workers to support them.

Japan's population falling faster than forecast (http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/news/world/13424194.htm)

A preliminary report on the nation's vital statistics said deaths would exceed births in the first half of 2005 for the first time since 1968, when the survey began. Explaining the decline, a Cabinet Office official said: "With the increase in freeters (job-hopping part-time workers) and NEETs (those not in education, employment or training), there's been a rise in the number of young people who can't afford to get married due to their unstable finances. More young married couples aren't having children because of the heavy burden of education costs."

In last year's pension reforms, the government introduced a system to automatically cut pension payments as the population ages and fewer babies are born. The reforms assumed that the population would start declining in 2007, and that the pension paid to a model household with a full-time homemaker would be maintained at 50 percent or more of salaried workers' annual average after-tax income.

As you see below, most pensioners are forecasted to receive JPY 30,000 (USD 254.85) [Jan 1, 2006 Yahoo! Finance Exchange Rate JPY 1 = USD 0.008495] per month... Japan's national pension is peanuts, but that's minor compared to what Japan really faces: a labor shortage.

Structure and History of the Public Pension Schemes (http://www.mhlw.go.jp/english/wp/wp-hw/vol2/p2c10.html)

Also, how can Japan sustain it's high-volume/narrow-profit-margins strategy with less consumers...? China has grabbed the export markets, so domestic's the only game left for most Japanese business... And when Japan finally does sell off it's dollars for much needed goods... the inflation of the money supply will seriously kill the American economy...

[Epoetker]

Japan is a sinking ship, fer shure, dude... It was recently reported that the Japanese birthrate is now exceeded by it's mortality rate:

Japan Sounds Alarm On Birth Rate (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/4065647.stm)

Japan currently has one of the lowest birth rates in the world. Discrimination in the workplace and poor government policies have been blamed for deterring many Japanese women from having children.

Unless women here start having more babies, the population in Japan is expected to shrink more than 20% by the middle of this century. Nearly half would be elderly, placing impossible burdens on the health and pension systems.

The pension population will be outstripping the working population, creating an unmanageable burden on the fewer workers to support them.

That's why Japan leads the world in the robotics industry, I'm told. They have to find mechanical solutions to personnel problems.

Japan's population falling faster than forecast (http://www.charlotte.com/mld/charlotte/news/world/13424194.htm)

A preliminary report on the nation's vital statistics said deaths would exceed births in the first half of 2005 for the first time since 1968, when the survey began. Explaining the decline, a Cabinet Office official said: "With the increase in freeters (job-hopping part-time workers) and NEETs (those not in education, employment or training), there's been a rise in the number of young people who can't afford to get married due to their unstable finances. More young married couples aren't having children because of the heavy burden of education costs."

In last year's pension reforms, the government introduced a system to automatically cut pension payments as the population ages and fewer babies are born. The reforms assumed that the population would start declining in 2007, and that the pension paid to a model household with a full-time homemaker would be maintained at 50 percent or more of salaried workers' annual average after-tax income.

As you see below, most pensioners are forecasted to receive JPY 30,000 (USD 254.85) [Jan 1, 2006 Yahoo! Finance Exchange Rate JPY 1 = USD 0.008495] per month... Japan's national pension is peanuts, but that's minor compared to what Japan really faces: a labor shortage.

Structure and History of the Public Pension Schemes (http://www.mhlw.go.jp/english/wp/wp-hw/vol2/p2c10.html)

Also, how can Japan sustain it's high-volume/narrow-profit-margins strategy with less consumers...? China has grabbed the export markets, so domestic's the only game left for most Japanese business... And when Japan finally does sell off it's dollars for much needed goods... the inflation of the money supply will seriously kill the American economy...

Japan's main problem, besides the low birthrate, is that it's a SAVER nation, not a DEBTOR nation. The Japanese are great at mechanically saving money...so great that I'm told the interest rate in Japanese banks is near 0%.

The problem you're overlooking in your mad quest to blame the debtors is that the one loaning the money have to continually figure out where to loan it to make more money. Without someone willing to be the debtor, the loaners have no one to go to for profit or investment. China may be making lots of money, but they're buying...US T-bills. US T-bills actually pay. If they had ANY confidence in their own country or people, they'd keep their investments on shore. I've resolved to put no more confidence in China than they're willing to put in themselves.

If the US faced a crisis of whatever and reneged on its debts, the rest of the world...would just eat the loss and continue lending their money to the US, as long as the US remained the country most likely to pay them back. You can't mystically create a nation motivated to take risks with its own and other people's money ex nihilo.

Economics gets very interesting once the playing field gets small enough.