Some Facts
20 May 2007
Editor, Washington Post
1150 15th St., NW
Washington, DC 20071
Dear Editor:
James Mann writes that Beijing's trade policies have managed "to boost Chinese exports and depress U.S. employment and production" (“A Shining Model of Wealth Without Liberty," May 20). The facts contradict his assertion.
Chinese exports have indeed increased. But U.S. employment isn't depressed. Today's unemployment rate of 4.5 percent is lower than the average unemployment rate for the 1970s, for the 1980s, and for the 1990s. Also, U.S. output now is at an all-time high. In real terms, U.S. GDP has steadily risen in recent years; today it is a whooping 63 percent higher than it was in 1990. Even U.S. manufacturing output (with the exception of a dip in 2001-03) keeps rising: the real value of U.S. manufactured output today is 50 percent higher than it was 1990. There's no sign that these trends won't continue.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University
Editor, Washington Post
1150 15th St., NW
Washington, DC 20071
Dear Editor:
James Mann writes that Beijing's trade policies have managed "to boost Chinese exports and depress U.S. employment and production" (“A Shining Model of Wealth Without Liberty," May 20). The facts contradict his assertion.
Chinese exports have indeed increased. But U.S. employment isn't depressed. Today's unemployment rate of 4.5 percent is lower than the average unemployment rate for the 1970s, for the 1980s, and for the 1990s. Also, U.S. output now is at an all-time high. In real terms, U.S. GDP has steadily risen in recent years; today it is a whooping 63 percent higher than it was in 1990. Even U.S. manufacturing output (with the exception of a dip in 2001-03) keeps rising: the real value of U.S. manufactured output today is 50 percent higher than it was 1990. There's no sign that these trends won't continue.
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Chairman, Department of Economics
George Mason University
Posted by Don Boudreaux on
Friday January 11, 2008 at 9:21am