Trade Deficit Unexpectedly Widens (And It Will Get Worse)

link to pasutri-makassar.com

Realist: “… you agree with Trump that the solution to this problem is to put Tariffs on Canadian lumber …” That is not a realistic statement of my personal views, Realist. The solution is clear — roll back excessive regulations; make sure that every regulation has pronounced unequivocal benefits which far exceed its costs, giving particular weight to jobs in the US. Long term, I personally would like to see “regulations” eliminated, ie rules put in place by faceless unaccountable bureaucrats. Long term, there should be no regulations, only laws passed by elected accountable individuals. And, yes, that will mean eliminating whole tribes of bureaucrats, thereby lowering the deadweight of overhead on the US economy.

typo: “U.S. corporations don’t want to pay a living wage.”

The U.S. became the world’s biggest economy from manufacturing. That is a historical fact. And manufacturing jobs fostered prosperity where a worker could support his family, Mom could stay home and raise the children, and they could afford to buy a home. Corporations made a decent profit, but Wall St. kept screaming for greater profits. The corporations and their think tanks plotted to move production out of the U.S. to low-wage countries, while re-importing the manufactured goods back here. The key was removing tarriffs, and that was accomplished with the passing of trade agreements, signed by Bill Clinton. The trade agreements were sold as adding to U.S. jobs, but were really a Trojan Horse to allow factories to move out f the U.S., and bring their manufactured products back to the U.S. with minimal tariffs. This has resulted in gigantic trade deficits, and a devastating destruction of the American middle class. But hey- the stock market is booming and the rich are richer!

Trade policy has massive long-term ramifications on the strength of a nation’s economy. Often people fail to note the difference between free and fair trade. In many ways, the global economy has become an ill-regulated business model tilted to favor big business and giant conglomerates. We should not lose sight of the fact that while free trade is important, fair trade is far more so and should be the main issue.

Developing a long-term sustainable economic system that is balanced would contribute to both global cohesion and the world economy. The article below is in response to a slew of comments from my recent article titled, “Higher Prices On Import Goods A Fair Cost For Jobs”. Today many people supporting past trade agreements mistakenly use low consumer prices as a battle flag around which to rally.
link to brucewilds.blogspot.com

link to obatperangsangmanjur.net

I notice that posts don’t appear instantly. If it gets rid of the spam, that’s not a bad tradeoff.

Yes, I should have said “didn’t help over the short-run”. Longer-term it should, barring a trade war.

Weakening $USD sure didn’t help with the Trade Deficit.