That would be good for the small percentage of us who own companies that do a lot of exporting. A weak dollar means more dollars coming in.

When are we going to demand that companies like Target, WalMart, Lowe's, and Macy's post, on every entryway, the percentage of imported vs US made merchandise they stock?

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When we decide that we no longer like having a free market and want to move towards socialism. If you want to have a "free market", then it must be free, i.e. no quotas or price controls.

The larger problem is that none of these companies pay taxes on the profits from these foreign made products. Most people do not understand how taxes are avoided, so here is a little explanation of how it works:

1) Company X makes a deal with the Chinese government to open a factory and pay workers $5 per day to produce Widgets. This allows them to produce Widgets for $1 each.

2) When the Widgets are produced, they are put on a ship to be brought to the United States.

3) While in reality the Widgets go straight from China to the United States, on paper it looks quite different.

4) On paper, the Widgets are sold from Company X in China to Company Y which is located in the Kamen Islands. Company Y buys the Widgets for $1.25 each.

5) Company Y then sells the Widgets to Company Z in the United States for $9.75 each. The profits of $8.50 per Widget made by Company Y is tax free since the Kamen Islands have no corporate income tax.

6) Company Z (i.e. Wallmart) then sells the Widgets in stores for $10, profiting $0.25 per Widget.

So for a summary of the taxes paid:

Company X pays the Chinese government taxes on profits of $0.25 per Widget

Company Y pays no taxes on profits of $8.50 per Widget because the Kamen Islands is tax free

Company Z pays the United States government taxes on $0.25 per Widget.

Company X, Y and Z are all subsidiaries of eachother.


This wonderful operation which involves outsourcing jobs, paying foreign workers crap wages, and cheating the government out of taxes, is only possible because of the wonderful "free trade" agreements courtesy of the World Trade Organization.

Now perhaps you will understand the next time you see thousands of people protesting the next WTO conference.

So to answer your question, the only way to make sure that jobs stay in the US and that US products are sold in stores is to limit these "free trade" agreements to include only countries that have proper labor laws and a livable minimum wage. Otherwise most of your products are going to be make by slave labor in countries like China and Burma while the companies that profit from this pay no taxes.

@Eric5273

Wow I had no idea...

still speechless... Time for me to get in this business me thinks..!