Do we even care any more?
Or have we just come to expect that the economic news in this country will be bad?
Have we surrendered to the suggestion that the economic advances experienced in past decades, that were enjoyed by past generations, were just historic flukes?
It seems so.
Or could it be that our own family resources are so over-stretched that we can’t find the inclination to hold our national officials responsible for fiscal realities that would not have been tolerated in decades past?
We once called on our federal administrations to be responsible for the nation addressing trade deficits. Now we just ignore them, or shrug our increasingly narrow shoulders.
The Associated Press reported this week: “The U.S. deficit in the broadest measure of foreign trade increased at the end of last year to the highest level in three years, widened by a slight decline in exports and higher imports.
That is, by definition, what a “trade deficit is all about. We are using American dollars to bring more into this nation than we send out, making us more dependent on the manufacturing and trade from other nations, creating new masters for us, as if that is what our “leaders” were intending.
“The Commerce Department says the current account trade deficit increased 15.3 percent in the October-December quarter, to $124.1 billion.
“The increase was partly influenced by an increase in imported airplanes.
“Exports decreased slightly to $380.4 billion.
“Imports ticked up to $566.7 billion.”
This is bad news. An INCREASE of 15.3 percent would have screamed off the front pages of American newspapers a generation ago. Now it’s just “ho-hum” in Washington, D.C. — about this and so much else.
Regardless of what the current federal administration tries to preach about “globalization,” the reality is, this hurts working class Americans.
Our nation is already throwing in the towel for the rest of this year, the AP reported. “Economists think the deficit will keep rising in 2012. Troubles in Europe and slower growth in Asia are likely to drag on U.S. exports.”
So we will continue to send more of our earnings overseas and get less of their money here.
Do we even care any more?
— Chuck Smith