Our Number One Export to China: Waste

As I was driving to the airport a few weeks ago after my visit to Colorado, my son Phil asked me if I knew what our largest export to China was. I couldn't possibly imagine, and after a few feeble guesses, he says "It's trash." Trash? I couldn't believe it, but as I thought more about it, it made perfect sense. We no longer produce many goods or services. Electronics, garments, autos and customer service are all made or performed somewhere else. We are the biggest consumers of all of these products, so what we are left with is a lot of trash.

Historians tell us that by the very end of the Roman Empire, goods were pouring into Rome from all over the known world, but about the only thing being sent out of Rome was human waste and garbage. We're not there yet, but we're well on our way. The number one thing that China buys from us is our garbage. China's number one export to us is computer equipments ($50 billion), while our number one export to them is waste paper and scrap metal (approximately $8billion).

The trade deficit with China has exploded over the past 10 years, in fact it has skyrocketed 300%. Wealth, factories and jobs are leaving the U.S. at an alarming pace. According to a disturbing new study by the Economic Policy Institute, if the trade deficit with China continues to increase at its current rate, the U.S. economy will lose over half a million jobs this year.

I know very little about economics, but was just shocked by the fact that we export $8billion worth of trash to China. We used to be a productive nation, everyone wanted our goods. Now, very little is made here, thus very little is exported. I don't know what the answer is, I don't even know the questions to ask. I do know that we better start manufacturing something or we're in jeopardy of losing our status as a superpower.