Friday, May 12, 2006

US lessens trade deficit 5.5%. Again.

BREITBART.COM - U.S. Trade Deficit Improves for 2nd Month: "The U.S. trade deficit unexpectedly declined in March for a second consecutive month, something that hasn't happened in more than two years. The improvement reflected record U.S. exports and a big drop in the country's foreign oil bill.

The Commerce Department reported Friday that the gap between what the country sells abroad and what it imports narrowed to $62 billion in March, the smallest deficit in seven months. It was a 5.5 percent improvement from February's $65.6 billion deficit which in turn had fallen from the all-time high of $68.6 billion set in January.

The back-to-back improvement in the trade deficit, something that last happened in October-November 2003, was certain to be welcomed by President Bush, who is facing increasing election-year attacks from Democrats who contend that Bush's free trade policies have put the nation in hock to foreign governments and cost millions of manufacturing jobs at home.

The trade deficit through the first three months of this year, even with the two months of improvements, is running at an annual rate of $785 billion, up by 8.4 percent from last year's record high of $723.6 billion."

Why is this happening? Because when our economy works, the rest of the world is better off.
As such, they've got more money.
So, they buy electric generators and industrial machines (read:robots and assembly lines), and computers.
I was listening to an interview with Michael Dell, the founder of Dell computers, and he was asked about forign markets. After the US, China and india are now the largest customers of computers in the world. A double digit growth in computer sales over there, in fact.
We're also exporting more food. Soybeans and Corn, because folks gotta eat, and there is no one in the world that can grow food like americans. Even when we do make ethanol and feed ourselves, we've got more then enough to sell to the world.

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