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The Trade Deficit Isn’t a Scorecard, and Cutting It Won’t Make America Great Again
NYT ^ | 3/27/16 | Neil Irwin

Posted on 04/02/2016 11:57:02 AM PDT by Jim W N

It is true that a trade deficit subtracts from a country’s gross domestic product. G.D.P. measures the value of goods and services produced within a country’s borders, so when a country is selling less stuff abroad than it buys from abroad, the country is making less stuff, and as a result there are fewer jobs. This piece of the Trump theory of trade is true.

Read the rest in the link.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Constitution/Conservatism; Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; Government; US: New York
KEYWORDS: constitution; culture; foreign; government; neilirwin; newyork; newyorkcity; newyorkslimes; newyorktimes
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We all know how bad the NYT is in politics, but often the NYT is very good reading in other ares as here, where Irwin is generally right. I'm not necessarily in agreement with his "Triffin dilemma" in the last part of the article, but he's generally right about what trade deficits REALLY mean in the first part of the article, what so many don't understand.

Why is there such unilateral confusion about the cause of our suppressed GDP? What AS ALWAYS is the cause of our shrinking middle class? Some stupid foreign country? NO!!! The cause of a shrinking middle class and the flight of business and industry from our country has always been, is, and will always be THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT! Tariffs and protectionism layers MORE government upon that which government has caused to begin with.

Has anyone (I know SOME have) asked themselves WHY business and industry flees our country? The answer is business costs forced higher by the federal government. Free enterprise is in business to make a profit. Business would be negligent if they failed to go where their profits are maximized. Nuke high business tax (a misnomer - business tax is a hidden tax on the individual), nuke unconstitutional federal minimum wage, dead-end regulations, and federal protection of unions, and American business and industry would once again thrive in the environment of open competition in the marketplace FREE from government interference. The American consumer would win once again, their standard of living would rise once again, American competitive “can-do” spirit would make us winners in the marketplace once again, and our country and economy once again would thrive, proper, and grow.

The mostly unconstitutional $4 trillion FEDERAL GOVERNMENT is the enemy of our prosperity as well as our freedom. Quit agreeing with the socialists. THOSE ROOT CAUSES mentioned about are the reason for a foundering GDP and the flight of industry. Tariffs and protectionism do NOTHING to address these root causes and actually make matters worse.

And I thank you very much.

1 posted on 04/02/2016 11:57:02 AM PDT by Jim W N
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To: Jim 0216

Yeah, Wide Open Borders, and Unfettered Trade have been great for blue collar workers.


2 posted on 04/02/2016 11:59:41 AM PDT by heights
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To: Jim 0216

it’s funny how all these leftist socialists organs like NY Times is so concerned about free market capitalism


3 posted on 04/02/2016 12:01:26 PM PDT by tophat9000 (King G(OP)eorge III has no idea why the Americans are in rebellion... teach him why)
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To: Jim 0216

If China only allows American companies to sell 100 different types of goods to them, then China should be restricted to selling only 100 similar items.


4 posted on 04/02/2016 12:02:40 PM PDT by deadrock (I is someone else.)
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To: Jim 0216

When you have open borders, free trade AND big government you’ve got a worst case scenario.


5 posted on 04/02/2016 12:05:36 PM PDT by Jim Robinson (Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God!)
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To: Jim 0216

NYT is as bad in everything as it is in politics.

Why is so much of their garbage being posted here these days? False-flag posters thinking we will be persuaded if our betters only shove their drooling-idiot crap in our faces?


6 posted on 04/02/2016 12:07:16 PM PDT by dsc (Any attempt to move a government to the left is a crime against humanity.)
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To: Jim 0216

A well functioning society should be able to provide jobs for people of all skill levels. We have largely removed low-skill jobs from the US — now those jobs are done in cheaper countries. The result is that our low-skill workers can find no work.

But we get cheap stuff from China, so that’s a plus, right?

Well, the other side is: large segment of our society needs government support because there are no low-skill jobs here. Those people get bored and they break the law: violence, robbery, drugs, etc. There is a cost to us all for that. And those people breed — multi-generation households where no one ever has a job. Does that hurt our culture and cost us all? You bet.

Does all of this affect our schools?
Does it affect our elections? Do voters just want “free stuff” because they have no jobs?

That “cheap stuff” from China that we get because of “free trade” and the global marketplace?
It’s hideously expensive.


7 posted on 04/02/2016 12:08:39 PM PDT by ClearCase_guy (I don't know what Claire Wolfe is thinking, but I know what I'm thinking.)
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To: Jim 0216

Again, NYT’s = DNC

The DNC is telling you “trade deficits are great!”

Here’s why:

“So money has flowed from China into the United States — both from the Chinese government’s purchases of United States Treasury bonds ...”

Because for every piece of Chinese plastic crap we buy, the money eventually ends up at the fedgov.

oh, yeah then our taxes have to go up, to pay China the interest on those Treasury Bonds.


8 posted on 04/02/2016 12:09:33 PM PDT by JPJones
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To: Jim 0216

I (completely) disagree.

100%.

Bring back American jobs.


9 posted on 04/02/2016 12:09:54 PM PDT by cba123 (http://www.census.gov/foreign-trade/balance/c5700.html)
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To: heights

Proving my point. Utter confusion about the difference between political borders, required for a sovereign nation, and open economic competition across borders in the marketplace FREE from government interference.


10 posted on 04/02/2016 12:10:27 PM PDT by Jim W N
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To: tophat9000

I’m certain they are not. What they do though is go far enough to pierce the error of someone on the Right, sometime very precisely and very well, but not far enough, as here, to show the advantages of the market economy free from government interference.


11 posted on 04/02/2016 12:14:27 PM PDT by Jim W N
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To: Jim 0216

Is it better to own or to be owned?


12 posted on 04/02/2016 12:14:38 PM PDT by Joe Bfstplk
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To: Jim 0216

What would open borders look like for the Wall Street crowd? You have to answer this question honestly before you vote for anyone besides Trump. If you cannot, congratulations, you win a tube of vagasil to ease the pain. Good job, alleged conservative.


13 posted on 04/02/2016 12:19:29 PM PDT by ameribbean expat
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To: Jim Robinson

“When you have open borders, free trade AND big government you’ve got a worst case scenario”.

The Deadly trio,


14 posted on 04/02/2016 12:23:06 PM PDT by heights
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To: Jim Robinson

Again the distinction needs to be made between political borders, required for national sovereignty, and open economic competition across borders in the marketplace FREE from government interference.

Tariffs and protection do nothing to address the flight of enterprise from America.

The BEST of all worlds, what America used to be, especially in the 1800’s, is small government, national sovereignty, and a market economy basically free from government interference.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BlkQRGZEycI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6qqG6OurHaM&ebc=ANyPxKpLGKZTZst8J-xgIMNCNpVc4qAt94qNtayg6J8Tp7SDaVGLD5yXBm3U0w8TApT41chLs4jhjcx-o3UsBvZMSxGzunrp3g


15 posted on 04/02/2016 12:28:34 PM PDT by Jim W N
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To: Jim 0216

Um, no thanks. No interested in “trade” and propping up the economy of our enemies, like communist China. I’d rather increase our own manufacturing sector, be relatively independent, and create jobs for American workers.

Trump is right on this.


16 posted on 04/02/2016 12:28:38 PM PDT by surroundedbyblue (Proud to be an Infidel)
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To: Jim Robinson

Yes, and we have 40 million plus unemployed able bodied U. S. Citizens to prove it.


17 posted on 04/02/2016 12:29:30 PM PDT by DoughtyOne (Facing Trump nomination inevitability, folks are now openly trying to help Hillary destroy him.)
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To: dsc

Argumentum ad personam is a flawed argument. You should know that.


18 posted on 04/02/2016 12:30:46 PM PDT by Jim W N
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To: ClearCase_guy

You cannot explain how tariffs address the core issues of why businesses are fleeing this country and the resulting slow growth of GDP. Tariffs and protectionism lower American consumers’ standard of living.


19 posted on 04/02/2016 12:35:51 PM PDT by Jim W N
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To: cba123

Great goal. Lousy argument.


20 posted on 04/02/2016 12:36:41 PM PDT by Jim W N
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