Analytical Research vs. Opinion Editorial

In writing my recent opinion editorial, I have come to appreciate the freedom that it offers in comparison to writing an analytical research paper. Expressing one’s own opinion is a much more pleasant experience than having a conversation with numerous academic sources to deduce a bottom line statement of fact. Of course, in order to write an op-ed one must be conversant with the topic. This presents the question, don’t we have to go through the research process whether we write a black and white research paper or an opinionated editorial? Conversancy can come from continuous exposure to something or from laborious research. Either way, one must have an authority over the things that he or she is talking about to gain any form of credibility. In conclusion, the op-ed experience “felt” much more liberating, but I am not sure if that is not due to the amount of research that I have already completed on my subject of choice.

Stand Alone

As the world faces the international crisis of the impending economic depression, many things are coming to light that are somewhat scary. For example, the United States has an annual trade deficit of $618 billion from imports and other trading activities, mostly related to China. Because it is so much cheaper to get the things we need from foreign countries that have abundance, the production of essentials has greatly declined in the United States. Recently with the economic crisis threatening Europe and the United States, there have been meetings between the Group of 20 Nations to discuss ways to ease the srain on money. This underscores the dramatic shift that has occurred in the financial influence of major powers in the world. While the US and European economies are feeling the effects of this depression, countries such as China are largely unaffected. Because of our dependency on other countries for imports and oil, we are now relying on their goodwill to bail us out of this catastrophe in the making. It is very alarming to realize that our country is essentially borrowing money to pay back money that we have previously put on our tab to buy foreign made goods.

Being dependent on other countries has only recently become a new trend in the United States. Since the Clinton administration opened up the doors for China to enter into the trade markets, we have begun a downhill journey that is leading to deflation. The crisis of today is a direct result of many businesses in the 1990’s that have blindly overestimated their potential prospects for returns. Everyone thought they were going to make it big and they overinvested on a huge scale, often times using borrowed money to do so. Too often businesses would produce much more than the market could absorb and we are experiencing the consequences of those actions today. Many companies/countries are faced with the problem of how to get rid of all the excess that they have produced. Opting to cut prices creates a higher demand for a product but at the same time it cuts profits significantly and often causes financial losses. Also, cutting jobs and work weeks, threatens to make things still worse, eventually tipping the economy into a general deflation of prices.

Because of China’s low-wage output, and their dirt cheap labor force, they have gained the absolut advantage in the market. It has come to the point where most of everything that we import comes from China. This is because it’s exports underpriced Japan’s and took market share away from other poor countries. This forced many rival countries to further lower their prices to keep competing. Because of this, many private and corporate businesses have decided to outsource and or import goods and supplies from China, and other countries like it that provide minimal labor costs and very cheap goods. This practice has started to become the standard method of operation for too many American companies to the extent that we would be in dire straits if we were to lose our ability to receive imports. China now has the largest trade surplus with the United States, surpassing Japan. At this point in time, with too many goods and too few buyers, the main objective is to not get stuck with all the excess. China is only adding fuel to the fire that is causing deflation by underpricing many countries and companies that depend on exports and or the goods that they make, which has caused a collapse in many Asian economies. With the collapse of many of the economies of the countries that we have exported to, there has also been a collapse on export growth rate.

We are in debt over a trillion dollars and we have no clear way of paying it back. We are in over our heads and we keep borrowing money to bail us out. Wouldn’t this just make our hole deeper? We currently run an annual trade deficit of over $618 billion with China alone. This is not including our other foreign made imports and the oil that we get from other countries in the Middle East. What happens when we are forced to reckon with these countries for the money that we owe them but we just don’t quite have it? What happens when these countries just cut us off completely of the sustenance that we have become dependent on? We are becoming like babies that are not able to wean off of the milk from a parent. As sad and completely terrifying as this should be to every patriotic American, there is still hope. Given the right leadership and the correct initiatives, we can grow up and learn to walk on our own feet again.

Alarming facts about the growth of China’s economic and military influence.

This link goes to a web log by Arun Shourie that talks about the growth of China’s economy and how it is related to their influence in the region. The more that their economy grows, the more that they have the upper hand on all the countries around them and even those that are farther away. They are investing 100s of billions of dollars into numerous countries. Everyone is worrying about what China’s reaction will be to potential ventures of every kind. Unfortunately, we are one of the countries in which China has gained influence. Read more at Arun’s site.

Economic Dependency in the United States

This was the title of my recently completed analytical research project.  It was a drawn out research paper that we were assigned to do in English 110.  There was a complicated process to go through before I was able to turn in my final project.  I was frustrated a couple times but I kept at it and eventually a decent paper was born.  We were supposed to write a prospectus to generally describe the subject we wished to study and the reasons for choosing it.  This gave a general idea to the instructor that we had at least some grasp of what we were trying to write about.  Then we did annotated bibliographies to make sure we had a grasp on the research.  Finally we did a rough draft of our actual paper that we later revised and turned in for a grade.  All this plus a works cited page was included in our final product.  Overall it was a six week project that I am glad is behind us.

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