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Here are the facts:

Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the measure of the USA's output of goods and services, is calculated by the Commerce Department's Bureau of Economic Analysis using the following items:

Personal consumption expenditures: Personal consumption expenditures are far and away the largest and tends to be the most stable of the four expenditures, averaging about 65-70% of gross domestic product.
Gross private domestic investment: Expenditures on capital goods to be used for productive activities in the domestic economy that are undertaken by the business sector during a given time period. Gross private domestic investment tends to be the least stable of the four expenditures, averaging between 12-18% of gross domestic product.
NET EXPORTS OF GOODS AND SERVICES Net exports of goods and services is the smallest of the four expenditures, averaging around 2% of gross domestic product. Unlike the other expenditures, net exports of goods and services can be either positive or negative. They are positive when exports are greater than imports (Trade Surplus) and negative when exports are less than imports (Trade Deficit). In recent years, net exports of goods and services have been negative.
Government consumption expenditures and gross investment measures government purchases undertaken by the government sector. Government consumption expenditures and gross investment averages between 15-20% of gross domestic product. This percentage tends to be ebb and flow a little with the political winds.

The BEA News Release for FOURTH QUARTER 2005 provides us with the following current data for these items. (Seasonally adjusted at annual rates)

Gross domestic product (GDP)............................. $12,735.3 billion
Personal consumption expenditures.......................... 8,926.9 (70.10% of GDP)
Gross private domestic investment.......................... 2,185.7 (17.16% of GDP)
Net exports of goods and services........................... -784.1 (-6.16% of GDP)
Government consumption expenditures and gross investment... 2,406.8 (18.90% of GDP)

The current BALANCE OF TRADE is in deficit, which is considered unfavorable.
That is why it is SUBTRACTED from the other factors used to calculate GDP.

And at historic highs, it diminishes our domestic economy by over 6% - more than twice the normal variation. This is NOT insignificant.

Willie looking at half of the equation

The above shows why Willie is always wrong. He looks at net exports of goods and services and sees a negative number. In his one dimensional thinking that means that imports are bad. With Willie there's no Thinking Beyond Stage One.

If he did, he'd realize that those pesky foreigners take their new dollars and either add to our private domestic investment (Which adds to our GDP Willie), buy Treasuries which funds Government consumption expenditures and gross investment (Which adds to our GDP Willie) and allows Americans to use their dollars to consume (Which adds to our GDP Willie) or invest (Which adds to our GDP Willie).

It's not Willie's fault, even educated men like Paul Craig Roberts and Alan Tonelson don't understand.