Posted on 12/20/2012 10:05:51 AM PST by Soul of the South
The U.S. Balance of Trade with China
The U.S. Census Bureau announced this week that the cumulative trade deficit with China through October 2012 amounted to $262 billion, $16 billion higher than at the same point last year. Last year's trade deficit with China was a record imbalance and was the largest bilateral U.S. trade deficit in history with any country. At this pace, the bilateral trade deficit with China this year is expected to be the highest on record. Although cumulative annual U.S. exports to China were up 6.4 percent over last year, this was offset by imports, which increased by 6.5 percent.
(Excerpt) Read more at uscc.gov ...
90% of what is wrong with the USA is because of cultural collapse, creeping socialism, drug and alcohol abuse, obesity, terrible schools, islamic radicals, etc.
5% at most might be due to the China trade imbalance.
Even if China said “sorry about that trade imbalance, we will give you back all the cash from the trade imbalance”, it would reduce the federal deficit from 1.2 trillion to 900 billion.
The housing bust was not China’s fault either.
The collapse in Greece, Spain, Italy, Ireland is not China’s fault.
The turmoil in the middle east was not China’s fault.
Why would we celebrate?
There are economic reasons for that trade deficit: the Fed's inflationary policy going back to the seventies, high American taxes, and evermore burdensome regulations. All of those conspire to make American manufacturing more expensive than it need be.
American consumers do what's perfectly rational and try to buy products at lower costs. In other words, they are just adapting to the conditions our government has created.
The only thing I'll celebrate is that, so far, your type hasn't succeeded in punishing consumers trying to make the most of their wages. I certainly won't celebrate the fact that our government is actively trying to make our economic disadvantages even worse.
Read some economics and get over your fixation on free trade. That isn't the problem. If it were, Germany would be in worse shape than we are -- wages there are even higher than here -- yet, year in and year out, Germany runs a trade surplus.
Tell me how that happens.
One item you missed is that deficits drive production oversees. As Capital gets gobbled up by government, domestic companies have less access to capital to invest in country. This forces companies to seek production oversees.
Sounds like you’re using the consumer to give it an undeserved innocence.
Rewarding despotism & lawlessness with market access and allowing enablers of it to go untouched is not something that is correct. When trade is discussed, national security also has an important place within that discussion - even if it might counter the wishes of consumers unaware of the effects.
The only “economic disadvantage” of mention would be that our workforce doesn’t have to “know its place” for fear of retribution by businesses tightly integrated with the government. China, and other countries that have received work formerly done by First World countries, have that “advantage” of lesser freedom for all. Rewarding that lower level of freedom only encourages efforts to lower the US to the global level.
Thank You Free Traders for bringing that trade deficit over $260 billion
And, thanks Free Traders for helping fund the North Korean Nuke Program...which you do by proxy supporting Free Trade w Communist China
You put a high tariff on Commie Chinese products...the jobs will come back. We know that they do not stay when you Free Trade w Commie China
US consumers willingly buying Chinese made products isn't China's fault either.
My trade balance with my grocery store is large........ he never buys anything from me.
We get stuff cheap. That’s all that needs to be said.
No.
Economic liberty is even more important than the freedom of speech or the right to bear arms. Without the ability to earn a living and dispose of property without the permission of government, the other freedoms are indefensible.
Thank you!
You're right, of course, about the deficits. It's just another nail in our economic coffin.
And, yes, I donned my asbestos suit as I always must when I sally into battle with those who would have the government protect us from ourselves.
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