Blog-IT-o ergo sum

	9/16/2004

What is wrong with this picture?

product of lithuania

Noted this truck of CANFOR lumber as I drove down I-85 today to Charlotte.

It's one thing to hear about our country buying now something as basic as lumber from places like Japan and Sweden. But, when you actually see a load of 2x4's from Lithuania rumbling down the highway, it does hit you that there must be more to foreign trade than economies of scale and most efficient producers.

Honestly, unless there is some serious government interference in the marketplace going on, how can somebody chop down a tree in Lithuania, cut it into a board and sell it competitively in North Carolina or points south?

(note: Of course I suppose this could be wood from Canada or Maine that some entrepreneur has figured out how to turn into lumber on a Lithuanian owned factory ship floating off our east coast.)

9:32:02 PM

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