Honda Exported More Vehicles From U.S. Than It Imported Here in 2013

Yup - because the Japanese unions want too much, and we are eager to race to the bottom at the expense of our infrastructure, tax base, and future generations. That's OK thought - we'll be building lots of shiny new Hondas for the Chinese middle class - who cares if the wages are below market from 50 years earlier when adjusted for inflation (I'm projecting 20 years out) - at least we have jobs. Heck, I can see vast Foxconn complexes building iPhones for the Chinese market here - being in debt to the corporate store and dorm life will be back in vogue in no time. But at least - you have a job.

@APaGttH Foxconn has already been looking for factory locations in LA and Detroit. Maybe Omni Consumer Products can help them find a suitable location here.

@APaGttH "Heck, I can see vast Foxconn complexes building iPhones for the Chinese market here – being in debt to the corporate store and dorm life will be back in vogue in no time." It's called "sustainability," and I'm guessing you vote for this future every opportunity you get.

@bball40dtw We're not that far away from OCP. The interesting/sad thing when you watch Robocop (the original) is that many of the warnings (whether dark, or a wink and a grin) to the future have come to be. And a lot of the technology envisioned, exists today (that is both cool, and scary). If the financial crisis taught us anything, there are a growing number of Dick Jones out there - who cares if the ED-219 doesn't work. Military contracts, spare parts, retrofit programs...

@CJinSD You have no credibility to discuss the future of global economics considering you feel we live in a Nazi regime.

@APaGttH Fascism supports a state-controlled economy that accepts a mix of private and public ownership over the means of production.[171] Economic planning is applied to both the public and private sector in a fascist economy, and the prosperity of private enterprise depended on its acceptance of synchronizing itself with the fascist state's economic goals.[172] It supports the profit motive. However it emphasizes that industries must uphold the national interest as superior to private profit.[172] Fascism promotes such economics as a "third position" alternative to capitalism and Marxism, as fascism declares both as being obsolete.[173] 171 Robert Millward. Private and public enterprise in Europe: energy, telecommunications and transport, 1830–1990. Cambridge, England, UK: Cambridge University Press, p. 178. 172 a b Cyprian Blamires. World Fascism: A Historical Encyclopedia, Volume 1. Santa Barbara, California, USA: ABC-CLIO, 2006. p. 189. 173 a b Joseph, Frank (2010). Mussolini's War: Fascist Italy's Military Struggles from Africa and Western Europe to the Mediterranean and Soviet Union 1935–45. West Midlands, England, UK: Helion & Company. p. 50. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fascism#Third_Position_economics Early 20th century progressivism is alive and well.

@APaGttH Unless we enact severely restrictive protectionist trade measures, manufacturing wages in the US are simply going to be lower than they were 50 years ago - before China, Mexico, India, Hong Kong, Thailand, Vietnam, etc., etc., etc., etc., became industrialized and capable of efficient and cheap manufacturing. Anyone who refuses to recognize this is delusional. In my opinion, we should abolish the National Labor Relations Act and allow unions to die altgether, or exist only in very limited capacity (perhaps in the low wage service sector where jobs cannot be exported and reduced consumption may even be desirable - want less fast food consumption? Let their workers unionize). I would also fight for favorable export conditions with China in other nations with the growing middle class, to enhance demand for our country's manufactured goods. We no longer need unions to ensure that manufacturing jobs pay a middle-class wage, as Toyota and Honda have clearly established. Greater global demand would push wages even higher. That would be best for the country in the long term.

@APaGttH "Heck, I can see vast Foxconn complexes building iPhones for the Chinese market here" Why bother looking into a crystal ball when you can just look at the newspaper? Chinese firm Lenovo just bought Chicago-based Motorola Mobility, which has a state-of-the-art facility in Texas that makes (and exports) their fanciest phones. Labor is such a small component of the cost for high-value products that the United States, Japan and Germany have always been in the worlds top 5 manufacturers.

@Superdessucke We won't fight for favorable export with China because we're: 1) afraid to poke the bear (gov), 2) addicted to cheaper goods (consumer "votes" with their dollars and 3) addicted to the profit and control that comes from having hundreds of thousands of workers living on-site working for peanuts (corporations). The three-legged stool we are perched on virtually guarantees that a "fair" exchange with China will never be. $300 billion in trade deficit last year alone is pretty strong proof of that. Even as wages for China's middle class rise, companies are not actively seeking to pull work back to the US ("considering" vs "doing" are two distinct actions). That said, I am fiercely pro-American, and not at all ashamed of that. Being a car buff makes that stand rather difficult, as I have a genuine love for many makes and models that are not even American-branded, much less assembled in the US (I grew up an Army Brat in Germany and have an unhealthy love of small Bavarian boxes on wheels). Heck, even the next car I want to buy after I return from my assignment here in Saudi Arabia (Jeep Wrangler), while made in America, is now under Italian control! So is that more or less "American" than the Accord that might be parked next to it in a parking lot one day? I'm sure the guys/gals screwing together Hondas in the US (and for that matter, Toyota, BMW, MB, Hyundai, etc...) are proud of the work they are doing and seem to be turning out competitive cars that allow them to put food on the table for their families. It's tough being a patriot and car nut!

@APaGttH Manufacturing isn't returning to the US because of race to the bottom. Manufacturing is returning to the United States because global shipping costs have risen sharply during the last decade, and because China's foreign exchange reserves policy has increased Chinese inflation. In other words, Chinese labor less competitive. Since US economic sovereignty is also at stake, DC is certainly applying all kinds of pressure behind the scenes to get manufacturers back into the US.