Yes, true. Its not that that exports are rising but imports are rising faster. So what? Neither of them is any indication to economic downturn. In fact quite the contrary, both of them are indications that the economy is doing better. Not only are the exports increasing but there is greater domestic consumer demand for foreign goods. As long as there is no drop in production levels (and there is none yet, domestic production is only increasing) I don't see any danger to US economy. More buying and more selling is sign of healthy economic activity, doesn't matter which one out paces the other. Whats not healthy is drop in export levels (or worse drop in production levels) in spite of trade surplus. It means you are selling less but you are buying even less. You are saving some dollar no doubt buy you aren’t earning any.
Another big myth of international economic is that “trade deficit is bad”. Its only true for the short run.
If you are buying more from outside then what you are able to sell them back and you are doing so with dollars, in the short run you may not get your dollars back. The country buying form you will have a large US dollar reserve. What do you think they do with all the US dollars in their reserve? They will either buy something from the US or give it to some other country in return for some other goods (who in turn will use it to buy something from the US). Like trade surplus, trade deficit also evens-out in the long run.
Actually it is, when the labor force that was formerly involved in skilled machining or similarly intense knowledge...and essential for teaching the next generation to learn the skills...is disbanded in the U.S. and forced while still needing employment to take up the housing trades...which ultimately failed them.
You keep forgetting LESSON # 1 for Liberty. INDEPENDENCE.
You are destroying it without any historical awareness whatsoever.
As long as there is no drop in production levels (and there is none yet, domestic production is only increasing) I don't see any danger to US economy.
False when calculated on a per capita basis. And in absolute terms...we need to keep our eye on the potential military enemies of liberty...who have already formed their "Shanghai Pact." A very real axis of evil that the traders pretend is just talk.
China has vaulted past the U.S. and Japan, and now makes FOUR TIMES more steel than the U.S.A. And China now has manifest designs on deploying...with our best technology...THREE TIMES as many civilian nuclear reactors as we have. I guarantee you that they will be civilian in name only. Such reactors have always provided valuable material for the military.
The Defense Science Board has explicitly warned the President that the growing dependency on Chinese-manufactured electronics is setting us up for a Trojan-Horse situation. They are capable...and more than interested-in exploiting our vulnerability that the traders have thoughtlessly created.
In sum, the trader-centric view, which is clearly what you preach...is extraordinarily short-sighted. The unconcern for the consequence of building up irrepairably a devastatingly deeply hostile nation's industrial prowess is incredible simply incredible. Adam Smith would reject the modern contortions of his own theory. He would never have approved of Thomas Friedman's earlier views, or the current Thomas PM Barnett's false prophecies that "China will never attack the U.S. and lose its trade partner". Totally nuts. The people who actually run China have told us differently, to-wit:
Deng Xiaoping: "[Stake-holders?] Tell your President that we don't have such a relationship."
So what have got with the modern Bush/RAT trade-views? Short-sightedness dressed up as a philosophy.
Who woulda' thunk it.
What do you think they do with all the US dollars in their reserve?
To a great extent...they sit on them. They are not doing as you claim, i.e., They will either buy something from the US or give it to some other country in return for some other goods (who in turn will use it to buy something from the US).
Their systemmatic effort at accumulating the 1.3 trillion slush fund of unrepatriated, unexchanged dollars disproves this theses conclusively. And it will soon be over $2 trillion. They consciously refuse to buy those American products that we have a comparative advantage in technologically...and that would keep our industrial base active and robust. They believe in "Win-Lose" trading. And they are pushing for all the things which accomplish that. Their whole purpose is war, and they intend to use the accumulated surplus to turn the tables, to continue to pirate the technology that we retain, and undermine and destroy our own production and capability thereto.
If they buy out our companies...since they don't want our products...it is to further both missions. Relocate the technology and production to China...and shut down the U.S. Witness what happened to Magnequench. It was the very model of all they propose to do in every other technological field. The UNOCAL deal would have gone down the same way. UNOCAL had scads of deep-sea drilling technology and equipment, and also rare-earth lanthanide production machinery and technique (all worth many billions more than the stated value of the company...to the PLA), that China would have picked up on the cheap, and relocated to China. And then shut down the U.S. operations.
Like trade surplus, trade deficit also evens-out in the long run.
In the long run, we'll be dead before your things "even-out." There is empirical evidence besides our current experience...that classically shows that...and refutes your position. It was formerly called Great Britain. Its manufacturing and engineering prowess was the world's greatest going into the end of the 19th Century. But they let it slip via "Free trade" unilaterally out of the country. Not so great anymore. They are an also-ran.
That's what your scam will do to us.
Hence, a true American...rejects such give-away trade views. George Washington rejected it. His mentor, Alexander Hamiliton, a profound commercialist, founded the alternative, seeing more deeply than Adam Smith did how essential independence was.
The American System is truly the way to go.