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carlrx7

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Posts posted by carlrx7

    Made In America - The Economic point of view

    in Lounge

    Posted

    I just finished my second economics class and the last chapter we had to read was about the global economy and how to achieve the greatest efficiency in production and growth.

     

    I'm still fresh to all of this but it seems that buying only american made items isn't the most efficient way to increase the economy.  Here is a good article that my instructor referenced to us:

    http://faculty.tamu-commerce.edu/dfunderburk/428/readings/The%20Iowa%20Car%20Crop.htm

     

     

    The Iowa Car Crop

     

    A thing of beauty is a job forever, and nothing is more beautiful than a succinct and flawless argument.  A few lines of reasoning can change the way we see the world.

                I found one of the most beautiful arguments I know while I was browsing through a textbook written by my friend David Friedman.  While the argument might not be original, David’s vision is so clear, so concise, so incontrovertible, and so delightfully surprising, that I have been unable to resist sharing it with students, relatives, and cocktail party acquaintances at every opportunity.  The argument involves international trade, but its appeal is less in its subject matter than in its irresistible force.

                David’s observation is that there are two technologies for producing automobiles in America.  One is to manufacture them in Detroit, and the other is to grow them in Iowa.  Everybody knows about the first technology; let me tell you about the second.  First, you plant seeds, which are the raw material from which automobiles are constructed.  You wait a few months until wheat appears.  Then you harvest the wheat, load it onto ships, and said the ships eastward into the Pacific Ocean.  After a few months, the ships reappear with Toyotas on them.

                International trade is nothing but a form of technology.  The fact that there is a place called Japan, with people and factories, is quite irrelevant to Americans’ well-being.  To analyze trade policies, we might as well assume that Japan is a giant machine with mysterious inner workings that convert wheat into cars.

                Any policy designed to favor the first American technology over the second is a policy designed to favor American auto producers in Detroit over American auto producers in Iowa.  A tax or a ban on “imported” automobiles is a tax or a ban on Iowa-grown automobiles.  If you protect Detroit carmakers from competition, then you must damage Iowa farmers, because Iowa farmers are the competition.

                The task of producing a given fleet of car can be allocated between Detroit and Iowa in a variety of ways.  A competitive price system selects that allocation that minimizes the total production cost.* It would be unnecessarily expensive to manufacture all cars in Detroit, unnecessarily expensive to grow all cars in Iowa, and unnecessarily expensive to use the two production processes in anything other than the natural ratio that emerges as a result of competition.

                That means that protection for Detroit does more than just transfer income from farmers to autoworkers.  It also raises the total cost of providing Americans with a given number of automobiles.  The efficiency loss comes with no offsetting gain; it impoverishes the nation as a whole.

                There is much talk about improving the efficiency of American car manufacturing.  When you have two ways to make a car, the road to efficiency is to use both in optimal proportions.  The last thing you should want to do is to artificially hobble one of your production technologies.  It is sheer superstition to think that an Iowa-grown Camry is any less “American” than a Detroit-built Taurus.  Policies rooted in superstition do not frequently bear efficient fruit.

                In 1817, David Ricardo—the first economist to think with the precision, though not the language, of pure mathematics—laid the foundation for all future thought about international trade.  In the intervening 150 years his theory has been much elaborated but its foundations remain as firmly established as anything in economics.  Trade theory predicts first that if you protect American producers in one industry from foreign competition, then you must damage American producers in other industries.  It predicts second that if you protect American producers in one industry from foreign competition, there must be a net loss in economic efficiency.  Ordinarily, textbooks establish these propositions through graphs, equations, and intricate reasoning.  The little story that I learned from David Friedman makes the same propositions blindingly obvious with a single compelling metaphor.  That is economics at its best.

     

                *This assertion is true, but not obvious.  Individual producers care about their individual profits, not about economywide costs.  It is something of a miracle that individual selfish decisions must lead to a collectively efficient outcome….

     

    Steven E. Landsburg

    The Armchair Economist:  Economics and Everyday Life

     

    BTW, I'm not telling anyone to stop buying American, just that any kind of taxation, tariff, import quota is only hurting our economy.  In the end, it's all about maximum production and efficiency, if an American company can be the most efficient, then they are supposed to be making that product, if they need to handicap the imports, maybe they should be producing something else.

     

    I'd love an open friendly discussion on what you guys think about all of this!

     

    Cheers!

     

    -Carl

    American Made Power Washer?

    in Washing, Drying, and Decontamination

    Posted

    Looking to buy a foam cannon but, I need to buy a power washer first. Any reccomendations on power washers? Never bought one, prefer it to be American made. What is a good pressure I need for a good foam?  Appreciate the help on a rookie question.

     

    Find a used one!  look for one with at least 2.3 gallons and 2600 psi.  If you plan on doing any house cleaning, the bigger the better.  3.0g - 3000psi is perfect, but I couldn't justify the cost over the used one I got.

     

    -Carl

    Tech question for you GM gurus..

    in Lounge

    Posted · Edited by carlrx7

    FWIW, Keep the stocker.  These newer vehicles use drive-by-wire throttle bodies, and changing to a bigger or higher flowing tb will throw off the air calculations and possibly cause a run-away condition.

     

    Im running a stock ls2 throttle body and just pushing 11psi down its throat.  Makes about 700ish to the tire ;)

    need advice on zero turn mower purchase

    in Lounge

    Posted

    you could hire a company to cut your grass and do all your landscaping for two years for the price of that mower.   my 899, 42" Lowes special does exactly what a lawn mower is supposed to do, cut grass and it even tows my 17'6 car trailer around my property like a boss!

    Detailing Pricing, Charging too much?

    in General Detailing Discussion and Questions

    Posted

    Looks like a good pricing base, but the only fair way is to charger by the hour.  make a spreadsheet for time to take to clean, light dirty interior 25, medium 50, heavy 75.  same for wash and paint correction.  customers will learn that cleaning up a little before taking it to you will pay off.

     

    When looking for business, flat rates are great, but it sucks when a truck pulls straight out of a 4' mud hole and into your driveway!

     

    -Carl

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