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U.S. 2002 Trade Deficit Reaches $435.2B
Excite News ^ | 2.20.03

Posted on 02/20/2003 9:31:20 AM PST by Enemy Of The State

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1 posted on 02/20/2003 9:31:20 AM PST by Enemy Of The State
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To: Enemy Of The State
Direct result of soft money bribery directly or indirectly paid by China.
There is no reason we should have a trade imbalance with them if we both have open markets and they aren't stealing our technology.

The only reason we do is because they bribe our politicians both Democrats and Republicans. They Bribed Clinton directly. Now they are a little more sophisticated about it. They bribe Bush though companies that they do business with.
2 posted on 02/20/2003 9:42:36 AM PST by stalin
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To: Enemy Of The State
Related thread: Bush Touts His Economic Plan in Georgia

``I agree with Zell, with this economic theory that when a person has more money in his pocket, they're likely to demand that somebody produce them a good or a service,'' he said.

Bush ignores the economic reality that undermines his economic "stimulus" plan: U.S. trade deficit hit record $435.2 billion in 2002

Any "trickle down effect" normally associated with tax cuts is quickly diverted overseas.
American taxpayers are subsequently mired deeper in debt. Government Hits $6.4 Trillion Debt Limit

Dubya's lack of fiscal responsibility will weaken our nation and lead to his political defeat in 2004.

Like his father, ol' Juanterm is economicly clueless, even when current headlines hit him square in the face.

3 posted on 02/20/2003 9:46:07 AM PST by Willie Green (Go Pat Go!!!)
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To: Willie Green
Any "trickle down effect" normally associated with tax cuts is quickly diverted overseas.

So the government shouldn't cut my taxes because I might spend my own money on a foreign product?

4 posted on 02/20/2003 9:56:27 AM PST by Toddsterpatriot
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To: stalin
The only reason we do is because they bribe our politicians both Democrats and Republicans. They Bribed Clinton directly. Now they are a little more sophisticated about it. They bribe Bush though companies that they do business with.

The "Two-party Cartel" at their best. And the sheeple will vote the same ones in the next election. 80% want the borders secured. Good luck, sheeple. but vote them back in next time. BTW, Hillary is talking about closing the borders. If so, her stock went up a bunch.

5 posted on 02/20/2003 10:00:11 AM PST by Digger
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To: Willie Green
Those exploding American exports that free traders keep promising us have never materialized, and will never materialize because we are producing less and less and consuming more and more. The net effect of this is that we are transferring our wealth to foreign nations through two high-powered hoses, capital investment in foreign labor and consumer spending of foreign production, and one fine day the national credit card is going to hit its limit.

When that happens, look out. You'll see a regime change here that would make the Bolshevik revolution look like a picnic. Say goodbye to the Constitution, hello to the New World Order. Then again, this is what the radicals who push free trade down our throats want - a global system of command and control. Once our industry is entirely emasculated, there will be nothing left of us to fear. Empire is approaching both its apogee, and its last gasp.

This trade deficit is serious stuff. Free traders can poo-poo this all they want, but watch and see for yourself. It is only a matter of time. The result is pre-ordained by the laws of economics.

6 posted on 02/20/2003 10:04:59 AM PST by Publius Maximus
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To: Toddsterpatriot
So the government shouldn't cut my taxes because I might spend my own money on a foreign product?

There comes a time when you (as a citizen) have to own up to your financial responsibilities and obligations. Debts must be paid, unless you think declaring National Bankruptcy is going to save your sorry butt.

7 posted on 02/20/2003 10:04:59 AM PST by Willie Green (Go Pat Go!!!)
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To: Willie Green
A wise policy would be to encourage domestic production for domestic consumption - that's Adam Smith 101. Impose an ad valorum tariff on all articles of foreign manufacture, and remove all taxes on individual income and investment. This would necessitate maintaining a MUCH SMALLER federal budget, sufficient to pave our roads and fund our military, but not much else. But the economic boom would be unbelievable, and nobody would miss all those unemployment benefits.

Unfortunately it is going to take the nation going through bankruptcy to realise the wisdom of the tariff revenue system that our Founders created, and which made us rich and independent for the first 150+ years of our republic. The tax-and-spend empire, constructed by the two party duopoly in this century, is on a collision course with reality.

8 posted on 02/20/2003 10:12:55 AM PST by Publius Maximus
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To: Publius Maximus
A wise policy would be to encourage domestic production for domestic consumption - that's Adam Smith 101.

Amen!

The Road to Productive Wealth

The only true key to wealth lies in production. While you can increase your own wealth at the expense of others, we all become wealthier when productive resources are increased. Greater wealth for our economy lies in increasing the quantity or quality of productive resources -- labor, capital, and natural resources. This is done by investing in education, capital goods, research and development, and technology.

Fundamentally, we believe that the U.S. government needs to devote more resources and put in place new programs to build wider expertise about China and to protect our industrial base from eroding as a result of our economic relations with China.

-- C. Richard D’Amato, chairman
U.S.-China Security Review Commission
(How to improve U.S.-China relations )


9 posted on 02/20/2003 10:16:20 AM PST by Willie Green (Go Pat Go!!!)
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To: Digger
I've got to agree with you. It's unfathomable why people keep voting for corrupt consummate party lap dogs over and over again. Sheeple is right.

80% want our borders secure but most of the sheeple on this site and elsewhere will go ahead and vote for a guy that wont do that.
10 posted on 02/20/2003 10:18:46 AM PST by stalin
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To: Publius Maximus
Great post Publius !!!! I'm going to cut it and past it on a note pad for future reference.
It's nice to see a clear headed no holds bared thinker on this site. Look out they'll suspend your posting privileges if you get to close to the Truth.
11 posted on 02/20/2003 10:23:41 AM PST by stalin
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To: Willie Green
The only true key to wealth lies in production.

According to free market economics, there is ONE single determinant of standards of living in a nation: The per capita capital investment in domestic labor.

The things you quote - education, capital goods, R&D, technology - are all in line with that.

Every policy, not just economic policy, needs to be run through a single minded filter: Will it increase or at least not decrease per capita capital investment in domestic labor? And if it would tend to depress such investment, such policy ought to be rejected outright.

Free trade (i.e., division of labor) without the rights and responsibilities of statehood ought to be rejected outright.

12 posted on 02/20/2003 10:26:10 AM PST by Publius Maximus
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To: stalin
The American Conservative is going to be publishing a few of my articles soon. The first one will be Will the Real Adam Smith Please Raise Your (Invisible) Hand?, in which I skewer the modern free trade interpretation of Smith's Invisible Hand passage. Look for it in the next issue or two.
13 posted on 02/20/2003 10:29:57 AM PST by Publius Maximus
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To: Enemy Of The State
A question, not explicitly stated, has been posed -

What is the value of the intellectual property consolidated and engineered in the US, then sent out to a foreign manufacturing facility for construction, and brought back to the US for sale?

Of course, the foreign manufacturing facility can simply steal, or reverse-engineer, the technology that is exported, and set up their own competing intellectual property, selling it outside the US and undercutting the direct exports from the US. East Asia has been doing this for years (Japan, South Korea, Singapore, China et al). Is our only recourse to produce more and more advanced technology faster than the foreign competition?
14 posted on 02/20/2003 10:37:37 AM PST by alloysteel
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To: Publius Maximus
"This trade deficit is serious stuff. Free traders can poo-poo this all they want, but watch and see for yourself. It is only a matter of time. The result is pre-ordained by the laws of economics."

Ez ussuns uz seyin down by de sawmill jes de odder day, dis heah depressun comin up gwine be a lot wussa dan de lassun cuz mos folk doan know nuttin bout cookin no possum nowdays.
Mercy on a poor boy. I think the waste matter is about to interface with the blades of the air moving machine.
15 posted on 02/20/2003 11:01:23 AM PST by RipSawyer
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To: Publius Maximus
Those exploding American exports that free traders keep promising us have never materialized

You don't know what you're talking about. Exports keep going up.

16 posted on 02/20/2003 11:02:36 AM PST by lasereye
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To: Willie Green
We got into a service vs. manufacturing argument a year ago, but here we go again. An auto company manufactures autos from steel, plastic and other stuff. An auto repair shop manufactures a working auto from a non working auto. A doctor manufactures a working human from a non working human. McDonalds manufactures cooked food from non cooked food. A laundry manufactures clean clothes from dirty clothes. A shirt factory manufactures clothes from cotton. A snowplow manufactures a drivable road from a non drivable road.

My point is that I don't find a huge difference between services and manufacturing.
17 posted on 02/20/2003 11:02:44 AM PST by staytrue
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To: Willie Green
You seem to be linking the budget deficit to trade deficits. What are you saying the link is? Are you saying if we increase taxes the trade deficit would decline? And if so, why?
18 posted on 02/20/2003 11:05:33 AM PST by lasereye
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To: staytrue
My point is that I don't find a huge difference between services and manufacturing.

Sounds like you wasted a full year of your life without learning anything. That's a shame.

WEALTH: The net ownership of material possessions and productive resources. In other words, the difference between physical and financial assets that you own and the liabilities that you owe. Wealth includes all of the tangible consumer stuff that you possess, like cars, houses, clothes, jewelry, etc.; any financial assets, like stocks, bonds, bank accounts, that you lay claim to; and your ownership of resources, including labor, capital, and natural resources. Of course, you must deduct any debts you owe.

VALUE ADDED: The increase in the value of a good at each stage of the production process. The value that's being increased is specifically the ability of a good to satisfy wants and needs either directly as a consumption good or indirectly as a capital good. A good that provides greater satisfaction has greater value. In essence, the whole purpose of production is to transform raw materials and natural resources that have relatively little value into goods and services that have greater value.

SERVICE: An activity that provides direct satisfaction of wants and needs without the production of a tangible product or good. Examples include information, entertainment, and education. This term good should be contrasted with the term good, which involves the satisfaction of wants and needs with tangible items. You're likely to see the plural combination of these two into a single phrase, "goods and services," to indicate the wide assortment of economic production from the economy's scarce resources.

Wealth is created only by engaging in value-added activities. By the same token, Service sector activities do not create wealth, they merely transfer, redistribute and eventually dissipate wealth as consumption. Thus, as value-added activities move offshore and the U.S. labor force shifts to the Service Sector, wealth is dissipated, not created. And the U.S. standard of living declines as a result.
19 posted on 02/20/2003 11:14:44 AM PST by Willie Green (Go Pat Go!!!)
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To: Enemy Of The State
later reading
20 posted on 02/20/2003 11:17:35 AM PST by liberallarry
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