The Funny Farm
Where life is beautiful all the time and I'll be happy to see those nice young men in their clean white coats...
Adventures of a Basic Force For Good in Our TimeTM
Well,... it seems like it is a surprise to all of the government bought private economists, anyway:
U.S. Trade Deficit Soars to All-Time High
By MARTIN CRUTSINGER, AP WASHINGTON - America's trade deficit soared to an all-time high of $60.3 billion in November, reflecting record levels for imports of everything from oil and consumer goods to farm products, the government reported Wednesday. The Commerce Department said the November deficit was up 7.7 percent from an imbalance of $56 billion in October, which had been the previous monthly record. The new record caught private economists by surprise. They had been forecasting a slight narrowing in the November trade gap. The trade deficit through November totaled $561.3 billion, far above the previous annual record of $496.5 billion set in 2003, and put the country on track to record a trade imbalance topping $600 billion when the December figures are added. The November deficit reflected record imbalances with a number of countries including Canada, South Korea and Russia. The largest deficit as usual was with China, although the $16.6 billion gap was down slightly from October. Critics point to the yawning deficits as evidence that President Bush's trade policies are not working. Democrats contend that the administration has not done enough to protect American workers from unfair competition from low-wage foreign countries such as China. The administration counters that the trade gap is primarily a reflection of a U.S. economy that has been growing faster than most of the rest of the world. [-snip-] If foreigners suddenly decide that they do not want to hold dollars in payment for the foreign goods that American consumers love to purchase, it could put added downward pressure on the American currency, which has been declining in value against a number of other currencies for the past three years. The administration insists it still favors a strong dollar policy although it has done nothing to slow the greenback's decline, a drop that economists believe eventually will help to narrow the trade gap by making U.S. products cheaper on overseas markets and imports more expensive in the United States. [-snip-] Imports in November rose 1.3 percent to an all-time high of $155.8 billion. This increase was led by an 11.8 percent jump in petroleum products, which hit a monthly record of $19.4 billion. [-snip-] |
Gee, we wonder if those private (cough) economists were perhaps bribed convinced that the trade deficit would be going down, even though most of the (unbribed, independent) economists we read have been saying that we need to fix the trade deficit now or we're frelled.
We were also interested to see that $600 Billion of America's worth has been shifted to other countries. This year. But, don't worry, you'll still probably get that $300 tax cut in April!
We also think it would be worthwhile to note that, according to the experts (cough), our economy has been growing faster than most of the rest of the world. Funny, the KMart workers we know who have been unemployed for over two years now would be very interested in finding any jobs in that fast-growing economy. It seems to some of them that we're in the midst of a depression recession, and that the economy has sucked royally since the Torturer in Chief usurped power in 2000.
What an amazing coincidence that the fats cats in power have been snowing us on how well things are in this great nation. You know, considering that, if they can confuse everyone enough, they'll be able to loot even more of everyone else's money. If they know the right people, they can even do it while being subsidized by the government. What a country!
Posted by (: Tom :) at January 12, 2005 06:36 AM