To boost flagging economy, U.S. wants to import more shoppers

[alp227]

Source: The Washington Post

The United States has long imported its food and fuel, its cars and clothes. Now the faltering economy has sparked a push for another type of import: shoppers.

For the first time, lawmakers, businesses and even White House officials are courting consumers from cash-rich countries such as China, India and Brazil to fill the nation’s shopping malls and pick up the slack for penny-pinching Americans. They are wooing travelers with enticements such as coupons, beauty pageants and promises of visa reform. The payoff, they say, could be significant: 1.3 million new jobs and an $859 billion shot in the arm for the economy over the next decade.

“They’re their own little stimulus program,” said David French, senior vice president for government relations at the National Retail Federation, a trade group.

The trend underscores the depth of the United States’ reliance on countries once considered to be at the bottom of the global totem pole. The nation already counts on China and other countries to manufacture its goods, creating a $45 billion trade imbalance that is paid for with money borrowed from their coffers. Now officials are encouraging foreign travelers to buy some of those products back — and a growing number are happy to oblige.

Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/to-boost-flagging-economy-us-wants-to-import-more-shoppers/2011/09/30/gIQA8P2OGL_singlePage.html

[begin_within]

1. The stuff is all made in China... now they want to bring people over from China to buy it?

Then why don't they just leave it all in China?

[saras]

15. It's so much more rewarding to buy from servile Americans. Schadenfreude doesn't come cheap.

[formercia]

29. +1000

$399 with round-trip air. All inclusive. No TSA, that's for Americans only.

[DJ13]

2. Are you SURE this isnt from the Onion?

[lbrtbell]

3. That's what I was wondering

What the hell are these people thinking??

[murielm99]

17. I thought so, too.

Before I opened the thread, I was sure I would be seeing satire. I was not going to let myself be fooled again by a joke article!

[JI7]

4. High Speed Rail would help in getting foreigners to spend money here

not just foreigners but residents of one state would shop and eat at restaurants in another city and state. including less popular areas tourists usually don't go to.

[valerief]

20. I'm sure they'd import the workers to build high-speed rail. They'd NEVER hire

actual Americans.

[Sanity Claws]

5. I thought this was something from THe Onion

bizarre.

[Joe Bacon]

28. The Onion is far more credible than the Washington Post.

I really don't know which so-called "newspaper" is more of a joke--The Washington Post or the New York Times!

[cosmicone]

6. Yet, a record number of Indians keep being denied

for tourist visas ... one 65'sh husband and wife were denied a visitor visa to come and visit their daughter ... one 83 year old woman was denied a visitor visa to come visit her daughter and three sons (even though she has been to the US 6 times in the past) and so on.

[davidwparker]

10. It's looks like the children need to go back and visit them.

[ixion]

7. grr

:argh:

Infuriating.

[SoapBox]

8. If they did come to shop...they would be buying land, buildings, POLITICIANS!

How's about we produce cheap crap HERE...and then let them buy that crap in their own countries!

[Festivito]

9. Not with our "Homeland Security" if they fly here.

We'd take an innocent Canadian citizen off a plane and send him to be tortured.

We've taken shoppers aside to send them back immediately for overstaying a years-earlier overstay.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=2505293&mesg_id=2505293

At least we'd only attract the dumbest shoppers.

[OhioChick]

11. What a fucking joke n/t

[sce56]

12. KICKED & RECCED FOR IT'S STUPIDITY!

[Psephos]

19. +100 n/t

[provis99]

13. so they want immigration, but they don't want immigration.

typical republican bizarro world thinking.:crazy:

[dixiegrrrrl]

27. They want RICH immigrants only.

[PSPS]

14. This is like how the USSR worked ... import tourists and their (good) currency.

[dixiegrrrrl]

16. Good message: "We've given up on our citizens, gonna import richer "consumers"."

Un fucking believable.

[area51]

25. +1

I think they've just tacitly admitted that we're in Depression economy and they're not going to do a g-d damn thing about it.

[dixiegrrrrl]

26. Good point. Yes.

[MADem]

18. Years ago, the Saudis used to come and spend like lords.

Same deal with the Japanese and the Brits when their currency was kicking butt and they didn't have rising prices at home.

The thing with shopping tourists is this--they don't just buy the stuff (which is marked up from wholesale, no matter where it is made), they also stay in hotels and eat at restaurants. It does put cash into the economy.

[tpsbmam]

21. How about you just stop screwing the 99% and then maybe we'd start spending a little again.

Duh!!!!!!! Jobs, decent wages, single-payer healthcare, get the fucking insurance companies, big pharma & profit motive out of healthcare, break up the too big to fail gang & start regulating the he'll out of them, build up our infrastructure, etc, etc, etc.

Assholes.

[Democat]

22. There is nothing wrong with this idea.

Tourism is a vital part of many economies around the world and "importing shoppers" is really just another form of tourism.

[burning rain]

23. America, behold your future.

Mexico used to be a cheap vacation spot for Americans... Now America is looking like that for the rest of the world.

[Citizen Worker]

24. "Stupid is as stupid does."

[formercia]

30. Make the USA a Duty-Free Zone.

That would make the Globalists happy. :sarcasm:

[bemildred]

31. What could go wrong? nt

[GeorgeGist]

32. Given a nominal GDP ...

they're predicting a pittance of a difference.