From producers to consumers back to producers again

Once upon a time not so long ago America built its empire based on the fact that they were producers and consumers wanted their products. After they got greedy they realized they could outsource their production and overtime this model became extremely unstable for the American empire.
Fast forward a couple decades and we find ourselves in the biggest depression since...ever!

Well, America I got a solution for ya and unfortunately it doesn't include sitting on our fat butts.

Become producers again!! How? I'm so glad you asked.

So, Equities Magazine (some obscure business magazine) just put out an insightful article about China's Health care reform.

Basically China, a one party state, is taking huge steps to modernize their healthcare sector which has stemmed back to 2002 with the SARS scare they had.
“change is afoot, as the government has been working toward enacting lasting reform since the SARS outbreak of 2002-2003.”

“While China is home to nearly 20% of the world’s population, it only produces about 1% of global pharmaceutical supplies.”

"The budget that the Chinese government has set for health-care reform by 2011 includes not only construction costs associated with the 30,000 new hospitals, clinics and care centers being hilt across the country but also includes allowances for outfitting these new centers with up-to-date medical devices and replacing obsolete machines in older facilities. Despite the higher price, there is a clear preference for foreign medical devices because patients trust the quality over locally made devices."

That's great for the U.S. because if we produce these products for China then America is back in business. In a study by the China Market Research Group, it was found tat the majority of those interviewed were “willing to pay 20% or more for Western device brands because they believed them more reliable.”

So, America, whatcha say? How about getting back into those dusty factories that were once closed and reopen them for business.

The bad news? We're gonna have to actually work now. I'm sure there is a percentage of the population that doesn't want to do this but considering the rapidly rising unemployment rate in the U.S. (California and Michigan are the highest at ~ 13% and rising) I'm sure there are plenty of Americans who are more then willing to go back to work.

However, this means we will actually have to educate our citizens in order to make these products available to the Chinese. Predicament? Not unless the U.S. is super stingy and doesn't want to subsidize this education.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, as a country (and an economy) we are only as strong as our weakest link. If we continue to allow our citizens to be uneducated (and sick due to no health insurance) we can only expect this mess to get bigger...and worse.

Here's hoping that some CEO is reading this and thinking, "great idea!" I'll even let them steal it from me, I don't need the credit.