Hamas War

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Empty Stores

I'm in New York now, the Great Neck of the Great Gatsby. It's bargain time for those with enough money. Lots of empty storefronts, for sale, for lease, garage sales and more.

No doubt that the United States economy started falling during the Clinton years.

Nothing seems to be manufactured in the states. "Made In China" is omnipresent on the tags and packaging.

Many people who had considered themselves wealthy, living off the interest have discovered that they were conned by Madoff and others.

The real "con" is being done by all those companies making oodles more profits by using foreign factories, workers, call centers ad nauseam, perpetually... until the true international power moves away with production.

Consider this as an economic rule:
  • Close the factories
  • Close the stores
  • Close the country

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

entrepreneurs going overseas to get more value for their money, and then giving more value to their customers, is an excellent economic model, one that made america great.
the madoff scam affected very few people directly.
america is far, far, from closing down. it is still a beacon of opportunity all over the world, with people dying [sometimes literally] to get in. i dont think you have mexican police stopping americans from sneaking over the border, or the affluent jewish teaneck community [for example] moving en masse to israel. the most important vote is the vote one makes with ones feet.
frankly, i have seen/sensed a sick triumphalism among israelis at americas financial setback. disgusting.

Anonymous said...

Our sages say "Who is wise? One who sees the outcome."

Keli Ata said...

When it comes to anything Jewish I make my purchases online from Israeli companies only. When holidays roll around or my birthday I give family and friends links to Israeli companies and tell them buying Israeli is "part of the gift to me" to make sure they do lol.

Sigh. I wish I could buy only Made in America merchandise in the US for everyday items but sadly everything is indeed made in China or elsewhere.

Hadassa said...

Shalom!
Anonymous you're incorrect on a few points. America is not nearly attractive as she once was. Attempted immigration from Mexico to America is down, see link:

http://mises.org/story/3472

The Madoff scam affected thousands of people, including yeshivot and other Jewish organizations that trusted Madoff without doing a thorough check, mainly because he's Jewish.

As for the rich Jews in Teaneck not coming to Israel, well the Jews in Spain, Portugal, Germany, etc. and even South Africa also waited too long to leave. The Jews in South Africa were - and are - a lot more fortunate than the others. They lost only the value of their money.

Accusing Israelis of being happy about the lousy financial situation in America is disgusting. No-one is happy about it. Virtually everyone, if not everybody, commenting on this blog has family and friends (including non-Jews) in America who are directly affected by the crisis there. Not to mention the millions of Jews who, although they are complete strangers, are our family and we'd do whatever we can to help them. That includes encouraging them to come home before they can do so with only the shirts on their backs.
Hadassa