China.....

[Caustic Burno]

We are Mexico's welfare system illegals cost us billions .
The rich country Mexico is loves the current system their idiot neighbor to the north is supplying food, medical and education for their citizens.
While at the same time we have citizens that don't have the basics.

 

[shaz]

We've got to start by reducing health care costs. Right now we have drug manufacturers and doctors charging whatever they want. I can't do that because I have competition. They don't. We need some illegal Mexican doctors.

 

[hurleyjd]

Medicaid is huge part for non-citizens and folks that never paid a dime to play. Illegal immigration has a tremendous cost. I think we need to get our own house in order before trying to feed the neighbors.

I will probably regret this, but here goes.

Undocumented immigrants are not eligible for Medicaid. However, when they have children on US soil, those children are US citizens and become eligible. The cost comes when the undocumented show up at an Emergency Dept. of a hospital and receive emergency treatment, such as delivering a baby. By law, they can't be turned away. Certain costs are reimbursed to the hospitals for those that never pay, both citizens and non-citizens. Those costs, as of 2017, amounted to about 1% of the Medicaid budget.

Programs such as WIC and other nutritional programs are a big cost though because illegal immigrants are entitled those benefits. Also, we do have to pay for their education in the public schools. But we have to also understand that it is the states that bear the biggest burden of illegal immigration through education, not the Federal govt.

The biggest problem with entitlements is that they were intended to be self-sustaining, but Congress started raiding the trust fund back in the 60's, 70's, and 80's (both parties) to make the budget more bearable. Now, with the baby boomer generation in their 60's and 70's the programs are top heavy.

I guess my point is that these are complicated issues and not as black and white as the politicians make them appear on either side. Is illegal immigration a problem, yes. But, is it as big a problem as it used to be, no, because illegal immigration has been falling for over a decade. Just because the politicians choose to make it an issue, does not mean that is the worst problem we have. Neither side wants to talk about our debt and the fact that we may very well be bankrupt in a few years. Nor do they want to address the fact that the U.S. owed China $1.2 trillion as of January 2018. Also, all of the GMO grain we now use, most of those patents are owned by foreign corporations. If they decide that they want to yank those, we will be hard-pressed to find enough seed grain to sustain our needs.

Just as I have discovered with raising cattle (and thank you all for the information and education you provide, I am learning a lot), nothing is as simple as it seems.

"The biggest problem with entitlements is that they were intended to be self-sustaining, but Congress started raiding the trust fund back in the 60's, 70's, and 80's (both parties) to make the budget more bearable. Now, with the baby boomer generation in their 60's and 70's the programs are top heavy."

Every dollar taken from the trust funds were replaced with an interest bearing federal note. The interest income is nearly as great as the taxes received for SS participants. Now the note is due and the folks in government do not want to pay it. Trust funds own most of the national debt and not China.

 

[sstterry]

I agree with everything you said, but we do owe China 1.2 trillion in debt. The total debt is now over 24 trillion and growing. Neither side of the aisle can say they are against Gov't. spending after the last go around in Congress. The debt has risen about 4 1/2 Trillion in the past year alone. Congress needs to get a handle on this and fast!

 

[Nesikep]

I agree with everything you said, but we do owe China 1.2 trillion in debt. The total debt is now over 24 trillion and growing. Neither side of the aisle can say they are against Gov't. spending after the last go around in Congress. The debt has risen about 4 1/2 Trillion in the past year alone. Congress needs to get a handle on this and fast!

The debt has risen about 1 trillion over the last year.. I agree with you otherwise that everyone needs to start spending less
https://www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/debt/ ... dYear=2018

Also, baby boomers are getting to be well into their 70's now.

 

[sstterry]

Technically I am considered a "boomer" and I am 59....there is more to come

 

[Bestoutwest]

With addressing medical costs, one must realize that we are now able to do more medically than ever before. People who should have died, are living, and they're going longer than ever expected. I have a coworker who has twins that even 5 years before they had been born probably wouldn't have lived. I had heard that if she had had them at a different facility within our system, they probably wouldn't have lived. Now, they are on our dime. I am in a FB group for folks with my heart condition, and there are mothers asking about getting disability b/c their child has my condition. I do not now, nor have I ever gotten a dime from the government for my heart condition. Add in the fact that medical procedures are skyrocketing and we're losing money to beat the band.

As for military spending, it's out of control, but will never be reigned in because it really tugs at the heartstrings of the voters. Ex: the F35. I understand that it will do the job of at least two aging planes (the A-10, F-16 and F-18), but like all good farmers know, if it's not broke, why fix it? Let's be honest, we're Americans and we like to FEEL like we're #1 so we have to have the "biggest" and "baddest" military. In the grand scheme of things, though, that doesn't necessarily equal victory, as we have seen over and over again. Canada, Mexico, Britain, France, etc have nowhere near the military that we do, and none of them get invaded. In fact, I wonder how much of the animosity the rest of the world feels toward us BECAUSE of the size of our military? It's like the biggest guy in the bar, he better be tough b/c all the wannabe's are coming for him.

 

[backhoeboogie]

I wish we would tell every China ship headed our direction with their junk to turn it around and take it back home. Surely we can wean ourselves of their junk and the 375 billion trade imbalance we run with them every year.

We have become a throw away society. Everyone shops at WalMart or Amazon.com There's no one to blame but ourselves.

 

[Nesikep]

I wish we would tell every China ship headed our direction with their junk to turn it around and take it back home. Surely we can wean ourselves of their junk and the 375 billion trade imbalance we run with them every year.

You do realize it's all those American companies that are getting stuff made over there.. Walmart of course is the first that comes to mind, but let's not forget automakers, electronics, etc etc etc

If it weren't for China we'd be walking around naked within a year.. no shirts, no shoes, no socks.. not even a MAGA hat.

 

[True Grit Farms]

I wish we would tell every China ship headed our direction with their junk to turn it around and take it back home. Surely we can wean ourselves of their junk and the 375 billion trade imbalance we run with them every year.

You do realize it's all those American companies that are getting stuff made over there.. Walmart of course is the first that comes to mind, but let's not forget automakers, electronics, etc etc etc

If it weren't for China we'd be walking around naked within a year.. no shirts, no shoes, no socks.. not even a MAGA hat.

How can China manufacturer and import goods cheaper than US? My thinking is we let the liberals with the help of the EPA create this mess. The air quality in China is on par with the rain forest in Brazil. We'll be just fine if things keep going the way they are presently. All the right people aren't happy, so things are improving daily for the US of A.

 

[jltrent]

I am with Trump all the way on this....we may suffer in the short run, but something has to be done.

Trump proposes $100 billion in new tariffs on Chinese goods


https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets ... li=BBnb7Kz

 

[snoopdog]

We will suffer in a trade war , all of us. It just might be the straw.

 

[sim.-ang.king]

We will suffer in a trade war , all of us. It just might be the straw.

We were suffering before the trade war.
Our fearless leaders of the past could have fixed this a long time ago, and it would of been much easier on all.
But...they chose the spineless route, and passed the buck onto the next bunch of saps.

 

[Nesikep]

Why is it cheaper in china? well.. a big part of it is the really cheap wages and an abundant workforce with no regulations for safety!

 

[greybeard]

And a workforce population approaching 3/4 billion that are still willing to actually work.
74% of China's 1.4 billion inhabitants are working age while only 66% of USA's 350 million are.
China's 16-59 age workforce=785 million.
USA 16-65 age workforce=164 million.

(WorldBank Data)

 

[hurleyjd]

I wish we would tell every China ship headed our direction with their junk to turn it around and take it back home. Surely we can wean ourselves of their junk and the 375 billion trade imbalance we run with them every year.

You do realize it's all those American companies that are getting stuff made over there.. Walmart of course is the first that comes to mind, but let's not forget automakers, electronics, etc etc etc

If it weren't for China we'd be walking around naked within a year.. no shirts, no shoes, no socks.. not even a MAGA hat.

Or a necktie that hangs past your crotch

 

[Nesikep]

And a workforce population approaching 3/4 billion that are still HAVE to actually work.
74% of China's 1.4 billion inhabitants are working age while only 66% of USA's 350 million are.
China's 16-59 age workforce=785 million.
USA 16-65 age workforce=164 million.

(WorldBank Data)

Fixed it for you

 

[greybeard]

You do realize it's all those Americans that wanted to buy cheaper products made by companies that are getting stuff made over there.. Walmart of course is the first that comes to mind, but let's not forget automakers, electronics, etc etc etc, that we didn't want to pay fair prices for to begin with.

If it weren't for Asia we'd be walking around naked within a year.. no shirts, no shoes, no socks.. not even a MAGA hat.

Fixed that for ya. That outsourcing didn't happen in a vacuum. Consumers demanded that prices dropped and retailers gave them what they demanded and the only way to do it quickly and easily was to lower labor costs..

By dollar, China is the largest single textiles exporter to the USA, but by volume other nations far exceed what we get in clothing and textiles..go look at you shirt, sock and underwear tags.
(Most clothing sold in the US comes from Pakistan, Indonesia, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Honduras, Mexico, and Vietnam.)

 

[boondocks]

It's a race to the bottom. Textiles (for American consumers) moved from US to China to Vietnam, Bangladesh etc. Cars from US to Japan to Korea (and soon enough India and China). Electronics from US to Japan, China, Korea. Back-office services even going to India.
As their standard of living rises, wages rise and manufacturers look for the next woe-begotten people willing to work for near-slave labor. The consumers benefit from the resulting cheap (and often "cheap") goods for a while. Until we look around and realize: Uh oh. We now have no jobs to support even a modest lifestyle that could reap the benefit of those "cheap" (but now expensive, relative to income) goods.
As an aside, I hate Walmart but went in the other night and saw a "sale" on deodorant at $4.99 for a normal brand/size. Dental floss is now way more $$$ than 10 years ago. I want to start a company that sells basic toiletry items online at a fair price. I know there's some online shaving companies, like Dollar Shave. Why not dental floss and deodorant? A container of no-frills deodorant should not be a five dollar bill fer cryin out loud. Rant over

 

[greybeard]

And yet economists say we have a very low inflation rate....

The healthcare/beauty sector is an interesting sector. There was a very good (and detailed) article a few years ago regarding why Proctor and Gamble moved so much of their manufacturing overseas. P&C had noticed their sales at big box stores was decreasing, and had a meeting with Walmart, Target, Kroger, and KMart and was told the only way the stores could increase sales of P&G products was to lower their prices and the only way they could lower retail price was if P&G found a way to lower the wholesale prices they were getting from the big box stores. P&G could not cut costs without cutting labor so they moved almost everything overseas.

Dollar Shave Club btw, is now owned by corporate giant Unilever....
P&G and Unilever for years had run a price fixing cartel for all their products in Europe and Great Britain and each were fined over $100 million when it all came to light in 2011.