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This page contains all of the posts and discussion on MemeStreams referencing the following web page: Buffet: America's growing trade deficit is selling the nation out from under us. . You can find discussions on MemeStreams as you surf the web, even if you aren't a MemeStreams member, using the Threads Bookmarklet.

Buffet: America's growing trade deficit is selling the nation out from under us.
by Rattle at 7:10 pm EST, Jan 14, 2004

] We would achieve this balance by issuing what I will call
] Import Certificates...

This was a lot of information to digest. I too, am not at all savvy with my knowledge of macroeconomics. The best I can say is that this sounds like a pretty reasonable method of constructing a tariff that is both country and product neutral. This would not have been a reasonable idea several years ago, but given electronic markets I could see lively trade of these ICs Buffet suggests creating.

Trade deficits are something to be worried about.. However, I also don't necessarily think everything we "export" is something that can be laid out in a spreadsheet.

Jeremy meme'd something recently about outsourcing where he made a suggestion that in come cases we are making the choice between wealth and security, and there is a balance. There are countries we may find desirable to have a deficit with in order to drive positive growth in their local economy, hence positive change in their society. We do export freedom and democracy, and it comes back in many forms. There is a degree to which this is a hard^Wimpossible thing to fully account for..

This also makes me think of another meme Jeremy recommended about counter-insurgency.. There is a degree to which we are spending our wealth to dry up support for ideals and groups which lead to our security problems. Our wealth is one of the few things we can toss around to confront these asymmetric threats.

RE: Buffet: America's growing trade deficit is selling the nation out from under us.
by Decius at 12:11 am EST, Jan 16, 2004

Rattle wrote:
] Jeremy meme'd something recently about outsourcing where he
] made suggested that in come cases we are making the choice
] between wealth and security, and there is a balance.

This juxtaposition made me uncomfortable and now I see why.

Are we selecting between wealth and security?

The left says yes. Its either wealth or security. The better off you are, the worse off everyone else must be as a result. The better of the world is, the more you're going to have to sacrifice, because you are western, and your comfortable life is made from the blood of the poor.

The right says no. Its not a zero sum game. Its not an either or. Its a both or neither. The better off everyone else is, the better off you'll be, and the better off you'll be, the better off everyone else is.

Both sides seem to be talking past eachother, and we can't get past the dialog.

Buffet: America's growing trade deficit is selling the nation out from under us. by Decius at 4:03 pm EST, Jan 13, 2004
] I'm about to deliver a warning regarding the U.S. trade ] deficit and also suggest a remedy for the problem.
Link - Reply

Buffet: America's growing trade deficit is selling the nation out from under us.
by k at 1:53 pm EST, Jan 14, 2004

] We would achieve this balance by issuing what I will call
] Import Certificates...

well, i'm no economist, but this seems logical to me. Fully recognizing that logic may be misleading when it comes to macroeconomics, are there any economists in the Memestreams community?

At the very least, i'm glad this stuff is getting some media attention, because it seems (again, me != econ professional) that buying more than you sell is a bad plan in the long term.

Why I'm Not Buying The US Dollar
by Jeremy at 11:36 pm EST, Jan 14, 2004

I'm about to deliver a warning regarding the US trade deficit and also suggest a remedy for the problem.

I wonder what Paul O'Neill thinks of this plan. Wait; no, I don't.