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      08-07-2012, 06:31 PM   #128
tony20009
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Quote:
Originally Posted by BMW M Power Mexico View Post
Templar, I understand your position here. However, trade is not a zero sum game. Mexico has gradually been building up a comparative advantage in car building. It is not only the wages (which have been rising) but also regulations (free trade agreements with more countries than anyone else in the world) and the training and clustering benefits that come with the rise in our car manufacturing capability.

No country can build inside it everything that it consumes. That would automatically make that country extremely poor as it uses a lot more resources than other more competitive places to get the same result. Research the statistics and you will find that the U.S. exports billions of dollars in many things to Mexico. Our trade is quite balanced compared to what happens between for example the U.S. and China.

Your position is akin to us trying to "build our own software" and shutting out Microsoft, Oracle, etc. Specialization among countries just as within organizations in the end makes everyone richer.

Finally, BMW is increasing U.S. production at the same time. Spartanburg has and for the foreseeable future will have a lot more production capacity than this hypothetical mexican plant. And U.S. based suppliers would benefit from this plant compared to the current situation (all 3 series built in Germany and South Africa).

With all due respect, if what you care for are U.S. jobs, your position is untenable. This BMW announcement would be a net gain for U.S. jobs compared with the situation today.
Well, I haven't read all the other posts on this topic, but I can see at least one person understands simple economics. Unfortunately, macro-/microeconomics isn't among the required curricula in most high school or college programs.
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Tony

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