Word: importers
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...living. Quite the opposite: the U.S.S.R.'s economic growth rate has slipped to about half the pace of the 1960s, and its citizens still have to stand in long lines for such minor amenities of life as toilet paper and detergent powder. On the most basic level, Moscow must import huge tonnages of grain from the capitalist world to keep the Soviet populace properly...
...stated reason is to speed China's modernization by welcoming foreign capital, technology and management methods. To that end, China has set up four "special economic zones" where foreign investors get unusual privileges to import raw materials and semifinished goods and, to a certain degree, hire workers. But many other foreign investments are simply introducing the Chinese to some amenities, real or alleged, of life elsewhere: fast food, Coca-Cola, Pierre Cardin fashion shows, golf courses, amusement parks, even a Peking branch of Paris' famed Maxim's restaurant...
...that Jiang Zemin would replace the avuncular Wang Daohan as Shanghai's mayor, the choice seemed a bit odd. No one doubted that Jiang, 59, was a man of high accomplishment. A Soviet-trained electrical engineer fluent in four languages, Jiang distinguished himself in China's Administrative Commission of Import and Export Affairs for three years before becoming, and excelling as, the Minister of Electronics Industry. But Jiang, as he is the first to admit, had never run a municipality before, let alone his country's largest industrial city (pop. 12 million). "I'm inexperienced," he says with attractive modesty...
Even as the economy quickened, though, a major problem was looming offshore: a $145 billion U.S. trade deficit. The prime cause for the yawning gap between exports and imports was the strong U.S. dollar. American businesses found it increasingly difficult to compete in foreign markets because their wares were too expensive. At the same time, low-priced imports pummeled U.S. industries at home. The trade imbalance held back the economy and raised protectionist fervor to a level not seen since the Great Depression. More than 200 anti-import bills surfaced in Congress, including measures to keep out shoes and textiles...
After denouncing import quotas as "ineffective and extremely expensive," President Reagan pledged in September to create a $300 million war chest to help U.S. companies finance exports. Treasury Secretary James Baker met with finance ministers and central bankers from Japan, Britain, France and West Germany at New York City's Plaza Hotel and agreed to help bring down the runaway dollar. Prodded by Government intervention in foreign-currency markets, the dollar by December had declined 18% from its peak in February...