I'm sorry, I know they are boring topics that everyone is trying to get away from during summer break. However, no one has posted anything here since Friday, so now I'm going to start talking about school subjects. Muahahaha!
Kidding, of course. Well, sort of. I am going to talk about IR and Econ, but in a way that I at least found interesting. Today I went into the city of Chicago to a luncheon/ lecture put on by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs. The featured speaker, and the reason I went, was Jim McNerney, the CEO of Boeing. As you can probably guess, I love Boeing.
On the other hand, I don't (or didn't) really care that much about trade with China, which was the main topic of the lecture. I now have a lot more interest in Chinese trade and diplomacy, and the scale of the Chinese market, both on the factor side and the goods side. Jim estimated the current size of the Chinese commercial aviation fleet at a bit over 1,500 aircraft, and claims that they could have ten times that number before reaching the level of saturation we experience with air service in the U.S. presently. That is a lot of airplanes. [Disclaimer: I did not take notes, so these figures are just from memory]. Point number 1: China is relevant. They may be starting to grow into competing markets with us, but there is still a lot to be gained from trade.
What I found most interesting was, during his lecture, Jim kept things understandable to someone like myself. He used terminology straight out of economics textbooks, like comparative advantage, free trade, and foreign direct investment. So - surprise! We actually are learning relevant things in class; the CEO of the US' top dollar-value exporter uses these concepts in managing the company. Point number 2: Our education actually has some real-world applicability. Take that, engineers! (that said, I think Jim McNerney was probably an engineer at some point in his life).
Also, I sat next to the VP of Exhibits at the Museum of Science and Industry. I got a card. I'm hoping for a free tour.
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