"Made in China" products accounted for only 2.7 percent of consumer spending

http://www.frbsf.org/publications/economics/letter/2011/el2011-25.html

by dporan • 15 years ago

12 12 15 years ago

Of course. Its cognitive bias at work. People are always discontent with their government. Failing to properly understand economics and politics, people exaggerate things to find reasons to accuse the government.

NoPiece2• 15 years ago

If you exclude services, then 35% of consumer spending is on imports. I think that number matches up more closely with peoples expectations. That said, oil really distorts that number.

saturn• 15 years ago

75% of motor vehicle purchases were "Made in America"? That is astonishing. Unbelievable, even.

BigZaphod3• 15 years ago

I don't think that's what it means. I might be wrong, but I got the impression it meant that 75% of the total money spent on motor vehicles ultimately stays in the US in some fashion. Either because it was assembled here or because of dealer commissions or because it costs money to hire US companies to move the cars from the port to the lot, etc.

stellar678• 15 years ago

The biggest sellers from foreign carmakers often end up manufactured in their USA-based plants, which then makes them "Made in America". Add that to the American carmakers and it seems reasonable to reach 75%.

SkyMarshal• 15 years ago

The only plausible explanation would be that a large portion of foreign car purchases are from the foreign factories in the US. BMW, Mercedes, and practially all of the Japanese manufacturers make some of their cars here.

nextparadigms• 15 years ago

Why aren't consumer electronics products in there? It seems to me they are only picking those with a high chance of being made in America.

Also, does this "made in America" refer to the whole product or just the packaging/assembly, while the components are still made in China?

BigZaphod3• 15 years ago

In regards to your second question, check out figure 2 way at the bottom of the article where they have a breakdown of made in us with us parts vs. made in us without us parts, etc.

NoPiece2• 15 years ago

It isn't labeled in the chart, but the text of the article notes that electronics fall into the durable goods category along with cars, furniture, etc... So they are including all imports, not cherry picking.

known• 15 years ago

Consumerism != Capitalism

tomfakes• 15 years ago

http://www.evolvingexcellence.com/blog/2011/08/the-fed-disho...

These guys call BS on the Fed's numbers, and then ask why the Fed deliberately made this complex calculation in a way to deceive what is really happening

BigZaphod3• 15 years ago

Well I'm not sure who to believe, but leading off their rebuttal with, "I am not going to begin to decipher their convoluted logic" does not inspire confidence.

"Made in China" products accounted for only 2.7 percent of consumer spending

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