someone explain how importing more helps the economy....

[LimeTwister]

please.

[TSE]

Stuff gets cheaper, people start spending

[LimeTwister]

stuff gets cheaper, people loose jobs.

people also lose money...and we're not selling any goods, justs receiving, which will eventually hurt, not help.

[Logikal X]

Having a good trade relation allows us to export as well....Especially if we buy components really cheap from one country, assemble them, and sell them back to that country or other countries at a higher rate.  Also the fact that we get items cheaper means we can sell them to our own country cheaper, which means cheaper things for YOU...Which i think is good, i dont mind supporting america, but im not gonna make myself poor doing it

thats just one thing, theres more

[Grakthis]

stuff gets cheaper, people loose jobs.

people also lose money...and we're not selling any goods, justs receiving, which will eventually hurt, not help.

K, brief econ lesson.  World Econ, specifically.

Specialization of labor - Basically says that whoever produces the good the cheapest SHOULD produce it for the benefit of everyone.  

WHY? Because if you produce it cheapest than you are producing it the most efficiently.  This means that you are producing it with the LEAST resource usage.  Which means that if you produce that good for EVERYONE in the WHOLE world than you are saving resources for the WHOLE world.

For example, lets saythe US can meet the domestic market demand for cars for 2 million dollars.  And Japan can meet the US market demand for cars for 1.5 million dollars.  Therefore, the US saves .5 million dollars if it lets Japan make all the cars.  That's .5 million dollars US citizens can spend on other goods made by other companies which all have employees as well.

But if Japan produces CARS better than the US than what happens to all those US jobs?

Well, the US must adapt and find it's own competitive advantage.  For example, lets say the US produces GRAIN better than Japan because Japan is small and doesn't have the fields for it.  So all those US car makers switch over to the industry where the US has the competitive advantage; Grain.  So Japan produces all of the Cars for the US and the US produces all of the grain for Japan.

So lets say Japan can provide for Japan's market demand for grain for 3 million dollars.  But the US can do it for 2 million dollars.  Japan saves 1 million dollars by buying from the US.

So, via specialization of Labor the US and Japanese markets have saved a total of 1.5 million dollars FOR THE SAME GOODS.

Which means as a market we have created an ADDITIONAL 1.5 million dollars of buying power for the macro economy.  Which means thats 1.5 million dollars people can spend on luxury goods.... for example, paying someone to mow their lawn.  Which creates more jobs.

The only time specialization of labor is a problem for a country is if that country cannot find ANYTHING they can produce well.  In which case that country has MAJOR issues.

Edit: This is just ONE of the issues, BTW.  There are a LOT more.