The Economy

Literally that’s what Karl Marx wrote in the Communist Manifesto.

As for pricing, everything is driven by labor costs. First Japan and then China were cheaper options because they were cheaper labor markets. But Americans have a choice, keep jobs here? Then choose to buy made in USA. That’s what’s ironic about how Middle America criticizes the “liberals “ who tend to be more likely to buy locally.

 

I have shirts that are 25 years old — and still fit. I’ve never followed fashion trends, so those type of clothes are the style I’ve worn pretty much since high school. Timeless.

I had a men’s clothing store I loved because they had brands and shirts you didn’t see at chain retailers. Started shopping there in HS and did periodically until it burned and closed around 10 years ago. As an adult, I’d drop a few hundred there every three of four years.

I worry about small, family owned businesses like that.

 

Ha, yeah - I'm aware of how problematic it is, in some ways. But it's not like we're going to "stop" technology advances, or that everyone is simply going to do some leisure or arts and writing based job in the future. At some point, it becomes a math problem - "We have X jobs, but we need X*2."

 

I'm not all that interested in unpacking all the slippery slopes that come from a conversation like this, so I'll just be annoyingly literal: Even in your scenario, grocery store workers would be making a choice.

 

This is an excellent post. Thank you.

 

New loans or refinances?

My money guy has been on my ass about how I should refinance. I have a mortgate at 4 3/8 percent, and I'm not going to pay for a new loan if its barely a 1 percent cut.

 

My rate is exactly the same as yours and I agree with your take. Not worth it.

 

Or between a chance of death/infecting their family or unemployment.

 

An example that I think is going to hit sooner rather than later is self-driving trucks. There will probably be someone riding inside to help load and unload and to help when there is a problem, but those will be minimum wage jobs as opposed to the truckers of today. When that starts to happen, there are going to be a lot of over the road truckers who get laid off, and many of them will not have another marketable skill that allows them to make anything approaching their former wages.

 

But do stereotypical liberals really spend more of their money on U.S. products than stereotypical Middle Americans? They may spend more on organically grown farmers' market vegetables while the Middle Americans buy some foreign-grown produce at Meijer, but their purchases of Priuses send a lot more money out of the country than the Middle Americans' purchases of GM cars, even the ones assembled in Mexico.