Wednesday, November 5, 2003
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More good economic news
Over the last two days, two good reports on the growth of both manufacturing and services from the Institute for Supply Management. The Philadelphia Inquirer story on manufacturing:
The service sector, which has been the mainstay of the economy during the recent lean years, is heating up even more, according to the Financial Times:
Click here for ISM's own summary of the data. Two cautionary notes. First, this data failed to impress the stock market. Second, the key question remains whether this boom in production translates into an increase in job creation. Again from the FT:
Developing.... UPDATE: Josh Chafetz links to more good economic news. posted by Dan on 11.05.03 at 04:42 PMComments: “...said that employment growth would continue to be slowed by the relocation of jobs abroad by US companies and by tax incentives to invest rather than hire.” One should never speak about the “relocation of jobs abroad” without also mentioning that this always brings down prices to the consumer. Perhaps more importantly, they also inevitably bring down the prices to the poorest among us! Distorting the market by protecting certain jobs ultimately impoverishes us all. It is far better for the overall American populace to persuade these unemployed folks to seek another line of work. posted by: David Thomson on 11.05.03 at 04:42 PM [permalink]The other half of that is that free trade is a boon in the long term. Sure everyone points out the billion Chinese that will work for pennies on the dollar, but what happens in twenty years when those billion Chinese are middle class consumers? Anybody think they are going to need computers? Networking? Software? Analysts? Programmers? Are they going to start buying cds and dvds? Going to Hollywood movies? Flying in Boeing jumbo jets (if they are still in business)? Vacationing at Disney? China is a huge market of the future. For every manufacturing job we lose now, we will end up with a high tech job and a service job down the road. posted by: Mark Buehner on 11.05.03 at 04:42 PM [permalink]Don't say the news failed to "impress" the stock market, say it failed to "surprise" the stock market. The market makes prognostications and in this case apparently made a pretty much correct guess. posted by: JT on 11.05.03 at 04:42 PM [permalink]Well, I'm still unemployed (high tech - bay area). It's now been 16 months since the layoff. Sigh... posted by: Michael C on 11.05.03 at 04:42 PM [permalink]Buehner, You're a class-A idiot. VCRs and TV's went abroad a long time ago. Now call-centers, programmers, and engineers are following, this time to India and co. By the time China get's the point where it is a huge market, believe you me that it won't be stuff or services stamped "Made in America" that they'll be buying. posted by: Oldman on 11.05.03 at 04:42 PM [permalink]posted by: Oldman on 11.05.03 at 04:42 PM [permalink] Post a Comment: |
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