George Wittenberg
World Trade

Our program for the day was provided by long-time resident of Santa Maria, George Wittenberg. He lived in North Hollywood for a while, and received a Juris Doctorate degree.  He received his undergraduate degree from UC Santa Barbara.  He provided us with some interesting facts about the US economy.  
 
The US economy is now worldwide.  Over half of our production is due to world trade.  There are three major trade areas in the world in auto production; the US, Canada, and Mexico.  The other great trading area is all of Europe, with the auto makers of Mercedes, Audi, BMW, Jaguar.  A lot of our equipment also comes out of Europe - German steel is very popular.
 
Another major economy area is China and East Asia.  They has become major players in our lifetime.  China is now the world’s second largest economy, and Japan is third.  We do a lot of trade with them.  
 
The US recently become energy self-sufficient.  We no longer have to rely on other countries, and have also become an exporter of energy.  Europe and Asia are still very dependent on the Gulf for oil, which means they have to rely on the peaceful ability to move energy.  
 
In America the cost of labor has become so high that we have to rely on other countries for products.  Our labor costs are two to three time higher than other countries.  The only other area with higher labor rates is Europe.
 
America is the leader in technology.   We have become the leader of the world in this area.  But we are not totally self-sufficient because some of the parts are manufactured elsewhere.
 
It is important that we have a strong navy to protect our trade route.  Most of the products we need are brought in by ship.  If the trade route were shut down, we would be shut down in a matter of months.