Democrats

The Trade Deficit Is On You And Me, So What Can Be Done?

February 13, 2007 ⋅  E-Mail Article ⋅  Print Article ⋅ Post a comment

The U.S. trade deficit reportedly jumped 6.5 percent to a record $763.6 billion during the past year of 2006. America’s overall import purchases were up 10.5 percent to about $2.20 trillion for the year 2006. The new deficit means that every man, woman and child in America spent an average of about $7,300 on imported goods and services during the 2006 year. Were you one of the Americans spending this much? Have you asked yourself what this does for your own job security? Jay Bryson, an international economist with Wachovia, stated that in the past year Americans turned to factories overseas rather than U.S. producers for the products they wanted. He cautioned, “The growth of the trade gap cannot continue indefinitely. Eventually we’ll have to start paying this borrowing off to the rest of the world…So in the future our standard of living could suffer.” You heard right your standard of living. This begs the question, “Whose job is it anyways to protect and nurture the American economy?”

Whose job is it anyways? The question has been asked from adolescence through adulthood and yet the answer is as elusive as ever. The question is whose job is it to create and protect jobs in America and the answer is harder to get a grip on than a greased snake. The President says its business’s job to create jobs. Businesses say it’s the political policies of taxation and health care which are hampering domestic American job creation. American citizens like to blame both big business and politicians while at the same time shopping at stores like Wal-Mart which rely on imported goods for sale from India and China. These same consumers buy cheap foreign cars while at the same time bitching that their factory job building supply parts for the Big Three is very insecure. Someone has to take the blame before there are no jobs left to ask about. At this point in the game it’s not about blame it has to be about recovery and creation, we have to take responsibility and move forward out of the mess that we all created.

According to CNN, the U.S. consumer eagerly grabbed up goods from low-priced clothing to expensive big-screen televisions made overseas. Consumer goods saw a $35.7 billion rise in imports last year, while the import of computers and other expensive capital equipment jumped $39.3 billion during the year.

To begin with, the Republicans have to stop saying there are jobs Americans won’t do, this is ridiculous rhetoric and if it keeps up there may not be any Republicans elected to office in 2008. Americans line up daily at the unemployment offices when they could actually file on-line. Why do they line up? It’s to seek out a job. Therefore, this BS about jobs Americans won’t do is ridiculous rhetoric and it needs to end.

Secondly, the President needs to quit telling Americans they need education when he is not supporting policies that make education more attainable. With the cost of college going up and the living wages going down how can he expect us to become more educated? The President needs to make education more affordable for the average American citizens, its time for action and not election slogans.

Thirdly, we need to hold ourselves accountable for the consuming we do. We cannot say buy American when it suits our needs and then turn around and fill our homes with Chinese and Indian imported goods. We need to stick to the ‘if we build it we will buy it’ mentality if at all possible whenever possible.

Fourth, we need to make sure our politicians understand they can help out business in America by creating and enforcing legislation that makes America competitive in the domestic and global market.

Lastly, we need to quit pointing blame at everyone else and take a little our selves. We need to ask ourselves how long we sat complacently while others lost their jobs to outsourcing. We need to ask how we can drive our Ford Focus into our garage and then proceed to enter into a house laced with foreign imported goods. We need to hold ourselves accountable to the standards we hold for our own jobs. You would not want someone going to a foreign business for the same goods or services you provide so you should hold yourself to the same standard.

I will leave you with this reminder from CNN who stated, The United States posted the biggest deficit with China, whose exports here outstripped its imports of U.S. goods by $232.5 billion, up 15.4 percent from 2005. The rising China-U.S. trade gap has sparked calls in Congress for tariffs on Chinese goods unless the Chinese currency, the Yuan, is allowed to trade higher in open markets rather than being pegged to the dollar. Several members of Congress are prepared to unveil the latest legislative push along those lines Wednesday morning. The trade report also came the day after the Bush administration asked Congress to extend the president’s so-called “fast-track” authority to negotiate trade agreements that Congress can’t change, but rather are subject only to an up-or-down vote on Capitol Hill. The U.S. Business and Industry Council, a group of small and mid-size businesses critical of the Bush administration’s trade record and supportive of a tougher stance on the Chinese Yuan, said the trade report shows the administration should not be extended fast-track authority for another year.

Related Posts