Why is it that everything seems to be made in China but Americans seem
to enjoy far more wealth? Since there is less and less manufacturing
in the US how are people making money to buy so much stuff?

It's a bubble and the same thing is happening in the UK and I guess
elsewhere. Just look at the loss posted by GM in the 4th Quarter -
$4.8 billion! It's obviously unsustainable so Hello Future, Here We
Come.

U.S can print dollars; and since everyone trades in dollars, it has a big advantage.

We make  crappy populist films and television shows that we can export
to suckers across the globe.

My dear Horatio

The Chinese are not stupid. They are experts at ripping off copies of
all the Hollywood trash.

A friend of mine has recently returned from China and he tells me that
he could have got a DVD copy of anything for just US$1.

Bryan

The US has so much money because we have moved away from manufacturing
and into more profitable industries like pharmaceuticals,
entertainment, computers, defense, and education. All countries that
have produced wealth throughout hostory have gone through the same
basic sequence of output. They go from agrarian to manufacturing to
service to information. India is making the move from manufacturing to
service right now. Their manufacturing is being replaced by China.
Soon (or at least eventually) China will move to service and
manufacturing will be replaced by another poorer country and the cycle
will continue.

Regaring the post that the US can print money and that is why we are
so rich. That is a common fallacy that many people make. Printing
money does not make anyone richer, it just dilutes the value of the
current money. Financial disaster has occured in any country that has
tried to print money to create wealth.

People are going deeper into debt.  Last I heard, the net savings for
the US as a percentage of income was slightly negative.  People are
running up credit cards and refinancing their houses and taking cash
out when they refinance.  This is not sustainable indefinitely.

professorman-ga on 29 Jan 2006 13:37 PST said:

"... Printing
money does not make anyone richer, it just dilutes the value of the
current money. Financial disaster has occured in any country that has
tried to print money to create wealth..."

 but it is a non sequitur if used to argue with 
amitgrover-ga on 28 Jan 2006 21:32 PST

If more and more people do buy dollars (which cost fraction of a penny to make)
and stash them in a mattresses (figuratively), the country printing
the money will be getting richer. Eventually, the bubble will burst,
and people who hoarded dollars (chinese,..) will loose money, but that
does not  invalidate the fact that it is (temporary) source of riches.
Relation of Euro (as alternative to USD) comes to mind and the 
'financial disaster' may be just waiting around the corner.
 Historical analogy is colonial England, which came close to
bankrupcy, attempting to subdue american colonies. Current US policy
is repeating the gamble, attempting to subdue and control rest of the
world, including  the competing EU. Will they fare better then England
sis at their time of glory,
- as sole superpower?

http://www.ojczyzna.pl/BOOKS/the-money-changers-ch6-9.htm

But the sellers in America make more money than the producer of China.

I'm from China and I'm proud of  all products being  made in our country.   
          
          Jason from China.