Do you know his secrets? Do you know his " trade secrets"...A good area to gain knowledge and attention would be to learn about international trade. This is a high level of interest among Gem Males. Talking Trade is better than any pick-up line ....Ladies cast your spell ; influence him with trade. Pow! Right in the kisser!
Thousands
of years of exchanging goods between nations has led to the evolution
of the vastly sophisticated mechanisms that govern international trade
today. However, for all our all technology, we have lost sight of the basic principles upon which inter-national trade was founded. While
some countries continue to import far more than they export, many
manage to maintain a healthy profit from trading overseas. Nations
that are oil or mineral rich such as the Gulf States ($520bn) and
Australia ($20.7bn) tend to generate trade surplus; while manufacturing
power houses such as Germany (€158bn), China ($155bn) and Japan (-$32bn
due to earthquake) are also able to maintain a healthy profit from
international trade, even though they themselves are not necessarily
rich in raw materials. Emerging
economic powerhouses such as Brazil ($30bn) and Argentina ($12bn+) have
managed to maintain both trade surpluses and economic growth as the ‘old
powers’ of Western Europe and the United States grapple with perennial
trade deficits through boom and bust. In
fact, the United States has sustained a trade deficit since 1975 which
last year reached a staggering $560bn. Meanwhile in the UK, the trade
deficit is so bad it is given in monthly figures.
So how do mineral rich industrial nations like the USA & UK defy sound economic reason and common sense? One
of cornerstones of international trade is that a nation seeks to export
those commodities, goods or services which it has in abundance for
those which are scarce. This
stands to reason, as nations rich in manpower and technology, yet poor
in resources such as Japan depend upon the import of metal ores from
Australia, rubber from South East Asia, and fossil fuels from the Gulf
which can they turn into manufactured goods for export. As far as is possible they manufacture what they need at home and import that which they can’t or don’t have. Common sense prevails. In
contrast, the UK and the USA have spawned multi-national corporations
which serve to suck in foreign imports on the basis of cost rather than
need, and transfer the processing and manufacturing of goods overseas
without hesitation simply to maximize profit margins. From a corporate viewpoint this makes rational reading, but to their host countries this represents economic suicide. Although
the target markets and raw materials may lie overseas, the prosperity
that comes from jobs and technology is lost along with the manufacturing
base. Recently this has come to
a head as Amazon, Google and Starbucks have been called to Parliament
to account for their tax avoidance and ravaging of the domestic economy.
In
theory, trade deficits accumulated in times of austerity may be repaid
during years of prosperity, but this has not been the logic applied by
the United States or the United Kingdom. The
corporate culture has transcended the fundamental principles of
national economies, with such absurdities arising as supermarket chains
importing foods which are actually grown within their host country
solely on the basis of consumer preferences and cost. This
defies the first principle of international trade, which is that you
don’t buy overseas what you already have in abundance at home. True,
tomatoes grown in North Africa may cost less per pound than those in
British glasshouses, but this policy results in lost revenues to the
national economy as well as depleting water resources which the growing
nation can ill afford. The consumer may actually end up paying less for tomatoes, but the nation ends up paying more. While
spending £500m on tomatoes grown overseas may save the supermarket
chain £100m, in effect it costs the domestic economy £600m in lost
earnings and £500m in exported currency. Once
the cotton fields of India and the United States fed one of the world’s
largest textile industries centered within the United Kingdom. Today,
little remains of the British garment and textile industry, and the
internationally renowned fashion houses of the UK focus their
manufacturing base overseas and import the finished goods at the expense
of the British taxpayer. In
conclusion, it is entirely rational from an economic standpoint to
suggest, where possible, that goods and services be manufactured and
provided within the domestic economy. If
a nation needs to import technology and commodities, such as coffee or
steel which it does not have, then it has to pay for them by exporting
its own surpluses. Until this presiding principle of trade is remembered, the Old World will never regain its prosperity.
Article written by: James Prince
Pick up a GEM gift here: EYE ON BEAUTY - wear your beauty naturally
Pick up a GEM gift here: EYE ON BEAUTY - wear your beauty naturally
