Who benefits from this. Certainly not the average American worker. It all goes to the corporation and their leaders siphon it off for their own.
If we are importing more goods than we export, but foreigners are investing the profits and more back here by buying our stocks and bonds, that's a net positive for us in terms of cash flow.
Where does the profit from those stocks and bonds go. To the foreign country. Once again the money in this situation is directed right back to the corporation leaders.
BTW you have not answered my question. All you have tried to do is convince me that trade deficits a) don't exist and b) even if they did exist they would still be good for us.
I totally disagree on both points.
I work for a large corporation and as a blue collar worker I don't see any of the profit put into wages for us. It all goes to the corporate leaders and back into the corporation. While the people at the top never lose any money, those of us who produce the goods get nothing.
Ok, I'll answer the question. If I remember, you wanted to know where we would be if we had a $500 surplus instead of a $500 billion deficit. If we had a $500 billion deficit, it would account for about 6 percent of our $8 trillion economy, so I guess we'd be 12 percent better off in the short term. Over the long run we'd lose huge amounts of foreign capital, the benefits of foreign competition, higher prices on both domestic and foreign goods, trade reciprocity as other countries impose tariffs on us, and a monetary crisis as confidence in the dollar erodes. In short, we'd be in the boat Japan is in now.
I totally disagree on both points...
They weren't points, they were facts. You can disagree with facts if you like, I suppose. But that's where democracy gets us in trouble as people vote their instincts and personal interests rather than objectively examining the ramifications of their actions.
I work for a large corporation and as a blue collar worker I don't see any of the profit put into wages for us.
You chose your job. You can choose not to work in that job. Your pay and your circumstances are strictly defined by the demand/supply equilibrium of whatever it is you do. That is an irreversible fact of life for all of us. If the value is not high enough for you, you should change your circumstances. Become self-employed. Work for a better firm. If these corporations are so inefficient then you should be able to make a fortune by competing with them.
By asking me to support trade barriers you are asking me to endure higher prices and economic disaster so that you can make more than you are worth at a job you don't seem to like much, anyway.
No thank you.