Chinese wages average about 75 cents per hour.

[JDPriestly]

This is our problem, guys.

Forget about everything else. We import stuff that the Chinese make at labor costs of 75 cents an hour. We cannot begin to subsist on 75 cents an hour.

That means there is a huge currency manipulation going on.

And we should not be importing so much stuff that the Chinese make at labor costs of 75 cents per hour.

We can never have a recovery if in order to recover we have to compete with labor costs of 75 cents per hour.

"the hourly wage in southern China is only about 75 cents an hour."

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/08/business/global/08wages.html

The only way we can improve our economy is to stop being the lower intestine of the world and end our free trade policy. Free trade is costing us our future. It has to stop.

[Motown_Johnny]

1. It also means that the average Chinese worker will never have enough buying power

to purchase items manufactured in America.


All these free traders seem to ignore that little problem.


The low wage countries end up trading with each other since they can't afford to support American wages.

[Name removed]

2. Deleted message

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[pampango]

5. What are the "other industrialized countries" that "have decades of protectionist trade policies"?

The EU imports more from China than the US does. It is not protectionist.

"Free trade" is a much larger part of Canada's economy that it is in the US. Total trade in Canada is a much larger part of their economy than it is in the US. Canada is not protectionist.

The top 3 sources of imports in China are Japan, the EU and South Korea. (http://stat.wto.org/CountryProfile/WSDBCountryPFView.aspx?Language=E&Country=CN,DE,US) They don't compete with and sell to China based on low wage rates. They are all prosperous high-wage countries ($30,000 - $40,000 per capita GDP) with very equitable distributions of income compared to the US.

"The rest of the world is so far ahead of us when it comes to economics its not even funny."

True. Canada, Australia, Japan and Europe all trade much more than we do. Progressive countries view trade as a good thing for their societies. They take care of their citizens, educate them and give them the tools to compete in the world. They don't sit around blaming their problems on poor people in developing countries.

Europe has open trade throughout the continent. The EU also unilaterally waives tariffs on imports from the poorest developing countries.

[udbcrzy2]

3. The crap we buy from China prices do not reflect

When they move jobs to China, the manufacturer still charges the same amount or more for their product. LIke Dooney handbags they are still 200 to over 300 for a fucking purse.

[Morning Dew]

4. Yeah, but...

If you got 20 people together in a one bedroom apartment, 75 cents an hour might be doable.

You would probably have to forego some of the frills.