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Comment by run4yourlives | Hacker News Reader

Please name which products that the world relies on the US to produce.

Exactly.

Google, Boeing, Ford, Windows XP, iPhone, Nike, Levis, McDonalds, Coke. That's just by looking around the room I am sitting in.

He said "relies".

I could do without all of those during hard times.

You could do without airplanes? Clothes? Soft drinks? If you are doing without those, then what do you need from China?

There are less-expensive alternatives for all of the examples you provided. Take a look at what happened to each of those companies (which existed) back in the early 90s.

For planes, there's already a nice inventory of used aircraft backing up thanks to the latest airline bankruptcies. Do you think an airline will be buying new (or any?) aircraft if vacation and business travel drops off a cliff?

So you really think in a time of globalisation and opening markets, a country will suddenly become an island because people are too poor to travel?

Anyone who believes this is seriously believes this needs to read some books.

If you're talking about the kind of hard times where your economic needs are reduced to 1400 calories/day, a lump of coal to cook your millet gruel, and some shoes made of old tires, the US is at least a major food exporter.

I don't expect times to get that tough.

Nike, iPhone, are all made in China. Levis are made in Latin America. I am not sure that will be counted as "made in U.S.A"

But I am sure we have made a lot of pornos because U.S. constitution protects them for the freedom of speech. And it is really risky for any people in Middle East to shoot porns than in U.S.A. . So probably this is one of few things that we make that poor men outside U.S. truly rely on.

Google is trans-national with development done worldwide

Boeing is trans-national with production worldwide

Ford is trans-national with production worldwide

Microsoft is trans-national with development worldwide

Apple is predominantly US based but trans-national

Nike manufactures in China or anywhere sufficiently cheap

Levi is the same

McDonalds gets its meat from Brazil and is trans-national

Coca-Cola is trans-national - in WWII Coca-Cola in germany was scarce, so the local franchisee developed Fanta as an alternative which made its way back after the war.

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