Do I have a horrible "trade deficit" with the grocery store because I spend hundreds of dollars there every month without them buying a single thing from me?
The term "trade deficit" is deceptive, because it's not a deficit at all, any more than my fiscal relationship with the grocery store is.
“Do I have a horrible “trade deficit” with the grocery store because I spend hundreds of dollars there every month without them buying a single thing from me?”
You forgot to credit Milton Friedman for that silly quote.
“The term “trade deficit” is deceptive, because it’s not a deficit at all, any more than my fiscal relationship with the grocery store is.”
Your analysis is terribly flawed. First of all, the grocery store isn’t accumulating wealth and buying weaponry with it that it may one day use against you. The grocery store doesn’t have ideological differences with you that it will press at every turn. The grocery store doesn’t employ people doing jobs, to the exclusion of those in your household.
There is more to the equation, does our GDP support the trade deficit, in a similar manner to your household income supporting your grocery shopping. If the GDP doesn’t support the deficit, bad things can happen, just as if you use your credit card for groceries and don’t have the cash to back it up, you won’t like the result.
“Do I have a horrible “trade deficit” with the grocery store because I spend hundreds of dollars there every month without them buying a single thing from me?
The term “trade deficit” is deceptive, because it’s not a deficit at all, any more than my fiscal relationship with the grocery store is.”
...until you lose your job because of it. Then it becomes rather annoying when you can’t buy food.
Are you borrowing money from the Grocery store to buy its products instead of growing your own?