I find this more than a little disturbing. The dramatic decline of America's overseas trade will renew criticism of Bush's economic policies. U.S. Trade Deficit Hits All-Time High February 10, 2005 10:52 AM EST WASHINGTON - The U.S. trade deficit soared to a record of $617.7 billion last year as Americans' appetite for all things foreign, from crude oil to cars, hit all-time highs. The United States even rang up a deficit in farm goods as imports of wine, cheese and other food products hit a record. The Commerce Department reported that the deficit for all of last year was 24.4 percent above the previous record, an imbalance of $496.5 billion in 2003. The U.S. deficit with China also set a record of $162 billion, up 30.5 percent from last year and the largest imbalance ever recorded with a single country. The rest of the story . . .
That's horrible. How will the Bush administration react to criticism? Up to now everyone's been so pleased wth their policies. The Dems would bitch if Bush discovered a cure for cancer and brought Mary Jo, JFK and John John back to life
i think we often assume we know more about economics or foreign policy than we do. is a trade deficit necessarily a bad thing? we are rich, we buy lots of stuff from other countries. so what.
Maybe people should stop buying foreign goods? Maybe Americans should always sell at market price? We Americans can take up making little yellow/blue/red/pink rubber bracelets that will for sure help our trade deficit and do wonders for our economy. :grin: The President doesn't decide what you and I buy. The trade deficit decreased in December. That's what the horrible, horrible all of "Bush's fault" weak dollar got us.
Well, it's not entirely his fault, we owe a lot of this to our representatives in Congress. But it is Bush's responsibility to oversee the economic policies of this country, especially with a friendly Republican congress. He didn't create this trade problem, but he has done far too little to address it during his four years in office. His biggest failure has been to let this trade deficit situation slide so badly during his term. The fall of the dollar versus the Euro, ineffective tarriffs, jobs and factories moving overseas, a record budget deficit, higher non-military government spending, an unprecedented national debt, and an uncertain economy have all been contributors to the problem. All of these factors have worsened during the Bush administration. He's got the job and the responsibilty to address the nation's problems. He is not immune to criticism.
Yes, Red, we know. He's not immune to criticism. We'll be waiting for you to remind us again tomorrow. :hihi: :hihi: :hihi:
