[Asclepius]

America's trade deficit with the rest of the world continues to widen.

There is no trade "deficit." For every good or article that arrives on our shores, some unit of value has been transferred somewhere else. Hence, no deficit. If by trade deficit what is meant is that more goods are flowing in than are flowing out, this simply reflects the realities of a service economy, an economy where only six percent of us labor in manufacturing (yet we produce more manufactured goods than we ever have). We have the largest, most productive financial service sector in the world. But how does one account for the export of services? If we were to compare total imports-exports, manufactured goods and services, the so-called deficit would evaporate like the fog in an economist's brain.

[Archangelsk]

(yet we produce more manufactured goods than we ever have)

Source please.

[america-rules]

"If by trade deficit what is meant is that more goods are flowing in than are flowing out, this simply reflects the realities of a service economy"

OK, then why did we have a Trade Deficit during the 70's, 80's and 90's when we were making all those nuts and bolts etc. ?

[jammer]

But how does one account for the export of services?

Simple, we account for it by counting the dollars coming into the country in exchange for those services outside the country.

If you want to argue the merit or demerits of "trade deficits", I would probably agree with you. But there IS a way to measure financial services sold.