[Ozark Tom]

Jobs here pay wages that keep currency circulating locally. No jobs equals no wages, thus no money to purchase goods unless taken from someone (taxes) for distribution.

Money leaving the country for trade goods removes currency locally. To create currency the fed must create debt in proportion. Money loaned to purchase goods increases debt; as opposed to money invested into manufacturing, which as an investment will create wealth.

[expat_panama]

Money leaving the country for trade goods removes currency locally...

That's the comic book version people like to believe, where U.S. dollars are piled on to big steamships bound for China to buy cheap knock-offs.  As the years go by nobody in the U.S. has any dollars left any more and the Chinese are just swimming in dollars --like some oriental Uncle Scrooge. 

Back on the Planet Earth in real life we understand that the Chinese don't go shopping in China using dollars.  They have their own currency and it's called the Yuan.  In real life when we buy say, Chinese gold (they mine more gold than anyone) we can pay in dollars if we want but they have to turn right around and use the dollars to buy American stuff.  It's either that or we first sell them U.S. made stuff for Yuan first for Yuan before we can buy the gold. 

There is never a payments deficit. 

OK, sometimes there may be say, a goods trade deficit where we trade American goods for Chinese services.  The times we read about a so-called "trade deficit" is when we got a deficit in goods'n'services that was covered by a surplus in other stuff.  Example: a few years ago I made a small fortune when I sold my in Baidu stock to some guy in China.  He paid me money that I traded to buy Chinese gold and sold it to you so you could hoard it. That's what a 'trade deficit is in real life --I end up w/ lots of dollars and you end up with a big pile of gold.

What's not to like?