Hecho En China (Or Where Globalization has taken us all)

That is the name of the garment creator on that shirt you just picked up in that large discount retailer you are shopping in. That is the name of the garment you just picked up in that specialty store, or in that Consignment shop there around the corner while you are trying to save a few pennies.

Made in China, or the Spanish equivalent Hecho En China. With those 12 simple letters it shows the flow of money from one nation to another one. It shows where the buyers at that Big-Box Department store are doing their bargaining at. It shows where your dollars are being sent to, after being converted into their currency of course.

Average Wages in China is the primary reason, just what driving this trend. Pulled from an article on Business Week Online comes this chilling figure "Last year salaries surged 40%, to an average of $160 a month," wow surged to $160 whole dollars a month. Considering my weekly grocery bill runs $125 to $150 a week, this shows just why the light industrial market has been exported overseas to China primarily.

Quote pulled from outside source to illustrate the inequality in wages and how it benefits the trade imbalance between China and other semi-industrial nations such as the United States.

Balance of Trade: How much a nation exports compared to what it imports, on the most basic of levels.A Surplus means it exports more than it imports, while a Deficit is just what you would think, where a country imports more than it exports, such as the status of the United States since the 1960s. More detailed information on the Trade Deficit of the United States can be found at the Foreign Trade section of the US Census Site.From there it states that as of October of 2008 the US Trade Imbalance stood at 57.2 billion Dollars.

Rank Country Exports (Year-to-Date) Imports (Year-to-Date) Total Trade (Year-to-Date) Percent of Total Trade --- Total,

All Countries 1,113.3 1,815.6 2,928.8 100.0% --- Total,

Top 15 Countries 763.2 1,313.6 2,076.7 70.9%

1 Canada 225.2 293.3 518.5 17.7%

2 China 61.0 284.4 345.5 11.8%

Data are goods only, on a Census Basis, in billions of dollars, unrevised.

This shows that between the US and China that 223 some BILLION dollars left the United States adn went to China. Just in one month more left the US than the first Economic Stimulus Package to bail out 2 major industries in the US Economy. Obviously if some of that money had remained within the US economy a slight difference might have been made.

It is true they are only the #2 trading partner that month with Canda beating them out, with a much closer difference between the imports and exports, making that an equitable agreement.

Data above pulled from the Top Trading Partners Page on the Census site.

This is where Capitalism and Globalization has brought the world to. Where one nation produces a huge quantity of the goods used throughout the world. But as time has passed, so too will their ascendency, here within our lifetimes I suspect, then we will need to look elsewhere, perhaps just next door?

GDP or Gross Domestic Product, one of the indicators showing a Nation's Economic Health.

Part of that is the amount of industry a nation has within its borders. Which feeds into the Imports and Exports as well.

For a nice graphical view of the world GDP as compiled by the CIA Worldbook an image is here showing the GDP.

While the United States is in the highest category, it is not hard to believe this will last for much longer considering the Trade Imbalance and overall decline in Industrial Capacity, considering how fast the other economies are improving and the overall increase in World Population.

An excellent breakdown of the top countries contributing to the US Trade Imbalance is over at this Article titled America's Trade Buddies.

Over on the Census.gov web site this specific sub-folder titled Economic Indicators has all the information publicly available so you can make your own decisions and conclusions.

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