Oh, I rember those "wonderful times" when I got caught in big debt with a 17% mortgage. The supposed "good old blue collar days when a worker could afford a house"... NOT!!!!! I recall working 20 hrs a day to keep my last nostril above water too! Damn near lost it all back then.
(Someone should mention to him that recessions will do that. If you want a really big trade surplus, try a depression --- like in the 1930s.)