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Exactly, and this smooth highway does not appear anywhere on a balance sheet, but it is a vital part of our 'trade' balance.

Perhaps if a country's annual financial report included "services" as well as "goods" traded, our balance would be hugely positive. Doom and gloomers would have less to worry about.

One of the "services" we export to the world is our philosophy of increasing freedom everywhere. Quite the intangible asset, but real nevertheless.

Ditto to posts 49 & 61.

If folks want to reemphasize Federal (and state) spending restraint, outside of Defense, I'm all for it. How about axing NPR and Public television? It's not many $ but it's a start. I am disappointed by the extended drug coverage for seniors. That's going to cost! No new entitlements!

Tax less, spend less, regulate less.

Think about regulation. Alaska has the highest unemployment rate. Perhaps if allowed them to pump oil from ANWR, good things might happen. Nuclear energy is safe but the legal/political threat has stopped construction cold for 30+ years. Generally, unnecessary environmental burdens are costing our economy big time. Maybe the EPA could use a major makeover.

At the State and local level, a tremendous reform would be to privatize the schools and go with a 100% voucher program. That would get governments out of the business of providing so-called education.

Perhaps if a country's annual financial report included "services" as well as "goods" traded, our balance would be hugely positive. Doom and gloomers would have less to worry about.

We do run a small surplus in services. From the BEA's February 10, 2006, "News Release: U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services":

Services For 2005, exports of services were $378.6 billion, up $34.7 billion from 2004. Increases occurred in other private services, which includes items such as business, professional, and technical services, insurance services, and financial services ($10.0 billion); travel ($9.0 billion); royalties and license fees ($5.2 billion); other transportation, which includes freight and port services ($4.5 billion); transfers under U.S. military sales contracts ($3.5 billion); and passenger fares ($2.5 billion). U.S. Government miscellaneous services were virtually unchanged. For 2005, imports of services were $322.2 billion, up $26.1 billion from 2004. Increases occurred in other private services ($9.9 billion); other transportation ($8.1 billion); travel ($3.9 billion); passenger fares ($1.8 billion); royalties and license fees ($1.4 billion); direct defense expenditures ($0.8 billion); and U.S. Government miscellaneous services ($0.1 billion). For detailed descriptions of the types of transactions included in each of the services categories, see "Information on Goods and Services" starting on page 26 of this release.

The surplus in services came to $56.3 billion in 2005, and it was a welcome increase from the previous declines in that surplus that we had seen. However, that surplus of $56.4 billion pales against the $782.1 billion deficit that we had in goods. (Which itself was a very unwelcome increase of $116.7 billion from 2004's $665.4 billion goods deficit.)