How can an economy subsist when it is hardly producing anything?

In the last few weeks, I bought three shirts, a can opener, a pocket watch, shoes. I hadn't really paid attention to where they were made when I bought them, but I've seen the labels on one of the shirts and sure enough, it's made in China. In fact, everything I bought in the last few weeks that I bothered to check was made in China, except the watch, which was made in Japan.


And they're not just the junk alternative either; these are well-designed, high quality products. And I assume I am not an atypical North-American cosumer and that most peope have more or less the same experience, consciously or not.


So my question is how long can an economy survive without producing much of anything? Can an economy really thrive if its focused on services? I understand a lot o Chinese companies now depend on labels to sell their products. What happens when the consumer realizes it's the same product with or without the western company label?

How can an economy subsist when it is hardly producing anything?
Not only are you wrong that the "North America" doesn't produce anything, but you must be blind also. Do you live in a place that has no businesses, offices, stores, or restaurants? What do you think they are doing all day?





Of course, when economists speak of production, they refer to any kind of valuable good or service, such as a haircut, or tax advice. But I'll assume that in your case you are referring only to the manufacturing of solid, tangible objects that you can hit with a hammer. OK. A lot of people have that strange bias.





But you are still wrong, the U.S. today actually manufactures a greater value of tangible objects each year than it ever has before. Manufacturing has been growing and continues to increase, as measured by well-known statistics that are regularly reported and universally accepted.





You are jumping to a conclusion based on exceedingly narrow sample of your own anecdotal experiences. Broaden your experience a bit, and you'd learn that millions of things are manufactured in the U.S.





Example, I live in a U.S. city in which a certain PC maker has plants all over the place. Or, you can go to a Honda dealership and look at the minivans and SUVs. You can read on the window sticker that they are made in Lincoln, Alabama. I could go on....



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