We can’t make it all

We can’t make it all

EDITOR:

While correctly addressing common economic fallacies regarding national debt, the writer of a Nov. 23 letter fell victim to an economic clich himself. He claimed that the productive capacity of our nation has gone to China and by implication suggests that this is a bad thing, or that we are less prosperous as a result. This is incorrect.

He should familiarize himself with Ricardo’s Law of Comparative Advantage to learn that the division of labor, whether domestic or global, increases the productive capacity of both parties in the exchange process, and thereby the wealth of each. Further, the United States would be measurably poorer if we had to manufacture all the goods we import from China. I would venture to estimate that at least a third of the goods and services we take for granted here wouldn’t exist if our capital were tied up making the labor intensive products that we buy cheaper from China.

JOHN SULLIVAN

Boardman