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...The Port of Long Beach's Don Snyder.
DON SNYDER, Director of Trade Relations, Port of Long Beach: At one point, it was three import containers for every loaded export container.
PAUL SOLMAN: That means two-thirds of the cans used to take the slow boat to China vacant.
The weaker dollar, however, has spurred exports to the point that 80 percent of these Denada cans were stuffed to gills, symbolic of U.S. exports in general in 2007, as the dollar has dropped against currencies as varied as the Brazilian real, the Australian dollar, the Canadian loonie, and, of course, the euro.
DON SNYDER: It's making our goods quite a bit more competitive on the world markets. Exports are up over 20 percent this year and whereas the imports have tailed off just a little bit. It's the first slight decrease we've had in a number of years.
PAUL SOLMAN: But if it's not Tummy Tucks, what is in the cans? This. Lots of this.
The cars come in. We scrunch them up, and then send them back out, is that what's going on?
DON SNYDER: That's an accurate description.
PAUL SOLMAN: And then, topping U.S. exports in volume, there's this. Clark Hahne, on the right, buys trash from places like this.
CLARK HAHNE, Waste Paper Trader: You have the blue bin and the black bin. This is the blue bin, where the recyclables are in. The trucks go around. They dump it off here.
PAUL SOLMAN: His partner, Jimmy Yang, sells it overseas.
JIMMY YANG, Waste Paper Trader: Most of this material goes to Asia. It gets sorted out as different grades of paper, and it ends up in a paper mill in Asia.[continued]
But here's the catch
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/business/jan-june08/dollarsworth_03-04.htmlPAUL SOLMAN: In other words, just what a weaker currency is supposed to do: encourage exports, discourage imports, and thereby help trade back into balance.
Marvin Jacobs
Fabric Distributer
I was there years, for 30 years, I never had any issues. Now they don't want the dollar. So you tell me where your cheap dollar is taking us. It's killing us.
Imports are more and more expensive
PAUL SOLMAN: So then, with U.S. exports taking off, is the weak dollar the answer to our economic prayers? Well, not necessarily. Everything from abroad now costs more dollars. It's even true at Tummy Tuck.
GEORGE RUDES: It hurts us, the weak dollar, because everything that we buy is imported. There's nothing manufactured in the United States anymore, not fabric, not zippers, not buttons, not thread.
PAUL SOLMAN: And so how much are your costs up?
GEORGE RUDES: I would say they're up about, oh, maybe close to 10 percent. Instead of selling the jean for a $50 bill, you now have to sell it for $53. And the retailer has to turn around and make his margin on the fact that he's paying $3 more.
PAUL SOLMAN: So the price goes up here in America. That, in a word, is inflation: more expensive blue jeans, more expensive lots of things, just what the workers at Not Your Daughter's Jeans are noticing.
Cost of living for you, has it been going up?[continued]
...PAUL SOLMAN: The converse, of course, is that, with every dip of the dollar, Americans overall feel less like rich people. That's what fewer imports mean.
And then, eventually, if we keep importing less and exporting more of our now-cheaper goods to foreigners, both our balance of trade and the dollar -- all else equal -- would finally turn positive as the global economic system re-adjusts.
streaming video optional
So, where will the long-term balance of trade leave the US standard of living?
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