Thursday, October 14, 2010
Stephen King Talks about Scarce Resources
For grade 15 Oct 2010. Watch the video. What is YOUR solution to the emerging market/scarce resource situation?
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Welcome. This is a blog dedicated to the students enrolled in the CSHS AP Economics classes. Click on the title of the article, read, and click comment.
Foreign markets can sometimes pose a threat to the domestic market. Why? International markets can initially offer goods at a much cheaper price or with a higher quality than other competing goods. Consumers are generally attracted to inexpensive or high-quality goods. Therefore, if domestic markets cannot adjust to the competition offered by the foreign markets, then they will either suffer or be forced to adapt.
ReplyDeleteResources are becoming scarce because of more countries developing. The west used to have control over these resources but now more countries in the east are taking the resources as well. In all honesty, I don't think that there is a solution to scarce resources because people will always want things. Furthermore, one cannot tell a country to stop developing. China and other Asian countries are becoming larger and their populations are growing. There will be scarce resources due to the population growth. Unless people start thinking of new ways to create/find more resources, there will always be scarcity in resources.
ReplyDeleteIf the West wants to continue to have control and maintain prosperity they will have to become more competitive. There is a reason everything says "Made in China", they produce cheaper. If companies stopped marking up their products so much and sacrifice a small amount of personal profit. If each corporation did that then the Western as a whole would regain some of the market and resources would be reallocated.
ReplyDeleteThe outsourcing of the production of goods to Asian countries, such as China, does indeed provide a siginificantly cheaper alternative than creating goods domestically. The only solution to this problem is that the U.S. needs to gain a greater competitive edge in various markets in order to ensure that it does not continue to import ridiculous amounts of goods from China and other countries.
ReplyDeleteThe difference between countries with developing markets and the countries of the developed world is that the developing countries can offer goods at a much cheaper rate, because the cost of living in developing countries is so low that corporations can pay next to nothing in terms of wages. Companies that outsource jobs should automatically be taxed the profits they make for outsourcing so that it is equivalent to the price that they would pay if they kept their company in the U.S. This would remove any benefit for companies to outsource jobs.
ReplyDeleteIt is frightening to think that according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, 40 percent of all consumer products imported into the United States last year were manufactured in China. We should take measures to break the growing monopoly China has on our import market otherwise we may find that we are unable to remove ourselves from the Chinese teat.
My solution to solving this problem is simple, have the average American company stop being so greedy. we used to have everything made in the united states and everything was fine, now the American flag is made in china, its blasphemous. there is no reason why an American company should be so profit hungry that they cant even produce something in America, if we just got a little bit less greedy and didn't put a 400% markup on prescription drugs and clothes and other items, we could actually compete with foreign markets and until we start making those changes nothing will happen and this will persist indefinitely.
ReplyDeleteMy solution to solving the emerging market/ scarce resource situation is to produce more of our own goods. We are fully capable of being able to do it, the only reason we don't is because companies have a huge profit by doing it in other countries.
ReplyDeleteMy solution to ending the scarce resources situation involves 1 thing, a protection of the free market. Nations of the world should band together to create something of a check on the free market. Something of the same caliber of the IMF we need something powerful and supported by many nations that will discourage the control of markets by governments. This will promote the free market and a fair allocation of resources. We don't want to starve people on a country by country basis but rather on what each individual can contribute to the system. Of course this is mostly a fear based organization and will mostly be voluntary. But it will still help prevent country's from hoarding resources.
ReplyDeleteIt is not possible to eliminate scarcity of resources because there will always be a desire for more. However, the situation can be improved if individual corporations are willing to sacrifice some of their income by lowering the usually ridiculous markup on consumer products. Then, goods from Eastern countries wouldn't be extremely cheap anymore, and consumers can afford to buy more domestic goods as opposed to foreign goods.
ReplyDeleteI'm not sure there is a solution. As more countries, like China, try to become developed nations, demand on limited resources will increase. The closest thing to a solution would be to not limit trade. In a free market, the resources will go to whoever puts a higher value on them, yet the market will also put prices at an equilibrium so that the prices of some resources may actually fall.
ReplyDeleteThe reason why there are scarce resources is because many countries in the East are producing goods at a cheaper price than the U.S. and therefore our country does not have control over our resources anymore. My solution to this problem is to lower the prices on the consumer products, but also to produce more at the same time so that the corporations will not lose money and the consumers can finally purchase products that are made from their own country.
ReplyDeleteThe reason China exports so many goods is because it can produce it at a lower cost which means it will be cheaper to the consumer. Generally people are attracted to less expensive products because it means they save more money. If the west continues to produce the way they're now then more companies will outsource and the economy here will worsen. If the west wants to stay in the competition it will either have to lower prices or find a way to produce efficiently yet cheap.
ReplyDeleteThere are scarce resources not necessarily because of lack of those resources, but also because of how those resources are contained. As for foreign markets vs domestic markets for the western world, the "East" has a greater majority of cheap labor and therefore can produce most goods cheaper than us, enticing people to buy from foreign markets as opposed to domestic markets. Hence why India and China are on the rise.
ReplyDelete@ jason: let me know how that one works out for you. There is a difference in saying something and actually bringing that idea to fruition.
ReplyDeleteI think private businesses placing a limit on their foreign consumption would help solve the situation but I also think this would be unappealing to them. Perhaps the government could create an incentive for corporations or even households to buy domestic products. As far as what the incentive would be or how it would work I do not have an idea unless you take the auto market as an example of this changing situation and place a government funded cash back offer on domestic cars, then again our government doen't have the money to offer such a deal so the whole situation would just lead to more brainstorming.
ReplyDeleteThe western world is using products that are made mainly in Asian countries. Their whole reason for it is because of how much cheaper it is to have their product made overseas then shipped in. If Western producers were to lose a small fraction of their profit to pay for the difference in producing the product here rather than overseas things could change. Although, that is easier said then done because all producers are greedy and are willing to outsource their production then lose any profit.
ReplyDeleteTo maintain prosperity the western world must become competitive. While we produce many of our goods overseas because it it cheaper, there is a benefit to be made if we focused on domestic productions. If we find a way to cheapen prices and labor on domestic goods the market would become more attractive. Thus putting us back into the game and able to compete with countries such as China and India. We would be more self sufficient and not dependent on the resources of other countries.
ReplyDeleteI think one of the only ways to fix this is to become more local with our goods. America is very profit hungry and we are always searching for cheap in order to sell at higher prices. Companies should keep the consumer more in mind and therefore mark down some prices. We should also be more open to production here at home, being as indutrialized as we are. However, there will always be scarcity because countries will always be emerging as higher powers and have more control over the economy. Nothing is set in stone.
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ReplyDeleteI think that, in order to limit the scarcity of resources, it may be necessary for private businesses to reconsider their strategies. Perhaps producing products domestically and lowering prices would be most beneficial in the long run, for both the consumer and producer. Though this will lower the producer's revenue, over time our economy will adjust to these changes and producers will find themselves in an equally satisfying economic atmosphere.
ReplyDeleteOkay so as idealistic as the rest of the class is, I'm going to be a cynical pessimist and say these are completely unrealistic. Asking companies to produce in the united states and knowingly lose money by doing so for "the good of our country" is like asking a serial killer to please lay off the murders for a little while, for the good of humanity. The fact is, companies will produce at the cheapest price for the greatest profit, so the jobs lost in the United States aren't coming back. So my solution would be that we need to focus on the jobs that we still need in the US and accept the globalization and use it for our advantage. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em; turn businesses international, get on the "green" trend, move on, and stop dwelling in the past. Get an education, get a job, or move to China.
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