Only 2.7 % of personal consumption is spend on goods from China

[hack89]

The Bureau of Labor Statistics closely tracks how an average American spends their money in an annual report called the Consumer Expenditure Survey. In 2010, the average American spent 34% of their income on housing, 13% on food, 11% on insurance and pensions, 7% on health care, and 2% on education. Those categories alone make up nearly 70% of total spending, and are comprised almost entirely of American-made goods and services (only 7% of food is imported, according to the USDA).

Even when looking at physical goods alone, Chinese imports still account for just a small fraction of U.S. spending. Just 6.4% of nondurable goods -- things like food, clothing and toys -- purchased in the U.S. are made in China; 76.2% are made in America. For durable goods -- things like cars and furniture -- 12% are made in China; 66.6% are made in America.

Another way to grasp the value of Chinese-made goods is to look at imports. The U.S. is on track to import $340 billion worth of goods from China this year, which is 2.3% of our $14.5 trillion economy. Is that a lot? Yes. Is it most of what we spend our money on? Not by a long shot.

http://news.yahoo.com/3-misconceptions-die-190708092.html

http://www.frbsf.org/publications/economics/letter/2011/el2011-25.html

[sufrommich]

1. I have a hard time believing that the majority of toys

are made in America, I can't remember the last time I saw a toy that wasn't made in China.Clothing may not be made in China but it's usually made somewhere else like Mexico or El Salvador.

[dmallind]

15. Nondurable goods > toys. nt

[mdmc]

2. medical care, milk bread and eggs are made in the USA

and I don't get to buy anything else..

[mdmc]

3. How come I can't find anything that is not made in China?

I know know that 70% (for me closer to 90%) is spent on housing + medical + transportation.

When I go to the store, 100% of the shit they sell is made outside of the USA.

:mad:

:mad:

:mad:

[hack89]

8. Most consumer goods are made in China

no one is questioning that. But you only spend a small percentage of you income on such goods. And you don't purchase the kind of things that America manufactures like high end capital goods.

[mdmc]

12. so what % of disposable income goes to "made in China"

95%

I noticed that they didn't care to report on that..

[hack89]

14. How much of you disposable income is spent on services or recreation?

I don't buy consumer goods every day. I do spend money every day on things like movies, sporting events, gas, fast food, etc.

Look at your bills - that's where most of you money is going and very few of them are for Chinese services or goods.

[mdmc]

20. everything is made in China

yet I spend much more on medicine. got it.

[hack89]

21. Why is it such a big deal? nt

[mdmc]

22. Temple Hill Hotdogs

The best hotdogs in the world - better than Sebbrets or Hebrew National.

Temple Hill Hotdogs couldn't turn a profit after NAFTA, and closed.

I WANT to buy things made in the first world, with unionized labor..

[rfranklin]

4. The problem is that we import 4 times as much from China as we export...

http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/balance/c5700.html

so even though it sounds like a small thing, we actually send China (or borrow from them) about $200 billion a year.

[hack89]

6. But when trade deficits are balanced by foreign investment

it is a wash as far as the economy as measured by GDP is concerned.

When foreign countries stop investing in America is the time to get worried.

[peace13]

5. I don't believe it. n/t

[hack89]

7. Feel free to post some actual evidence. nt

[NNN0LHI]

9. Made in US or assembled in US?

The 'Made in' label only indicates where something is assembled. If all the labor intensive parts for some gizmo are made in China and then shipped here to have it assembled by doing something as easy as slapping two pieces together and putting a screw into it to hold it together pretty sure that gizmo is considered Made in US.

Don

[hack89]

10. Few consumer goods are made in America

they are commodity items that are too expensive to make in America. American manufacturing concentrates on high end capital goods like planes, manufacturing equipment, medical equipment, bio technology - things that individuals don't buy.

[NNN0LHI]

11. But am I correct?

Could some gizmo that had 99% of the labor to make it done in China and if that last 1% of assembly is done here would that be considered Made in US?

Don

[hack89]

13. Not sure - here are the FTC guidelines on "made in America"

http://business.ftc.gov/documents/bus03-complying-made-usa-standard

[treestar]

17. The manufacturing equipment in the Chinese factories

It would be interesting to find out where that was made.

[treestar]

16. If you're going to make it that complicated

Then you've got to consider where the ingredients for the gizmos come from and where it was designed and marketed. In that event, the US might come out on top. Or most goods found to be made everywhere.

[sinkingfeeling]

18. I can hardly believe that only 23.8% of clothing and toys come from other countries. That's just

about all I see in the stores. What stores sell that 76.2% American made stuff?

[hack89]

19. Here is a web site dedicated to made in America toys

http://www.toysmadeinamerica.com/

[krispos42]

23. 66% of cars are assembled in America. But the individual components?

Where are they made? The black boxes, the wiring harnesses, the sensors and switches and gauges? Hmmm...