I thought a weaker dollar was supposed to make us more competitive

Silly me. The bright side to all this economic turmoil we’re going through was supposed to be that a weaker dollar would make U.S. exports more competitive overseas, boosting domestic manufacturing. But if this is true, then why is China now set to take the lead in manufacturing next year, rather than in 2013? Instead, it appears that the declining U.S. economy means “a large downward revision in likely output this year and next is expected to cause the US to slip more quickly than had been expected.”

Unsurprisingly, the National Association of Manufacturers is unperturbed. John Engler, the association’s president remarked, “This should be a wholesome development for the US, for it promises both political stability for the world’s largest country and continuing opportunities for the US to export to, and invest in, the world’s fastest-growing economy.” Capitalists profit from exports and from investments. But “reduced output” means fewer jobs; it especially means fewer well-paying jobs.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.