Thread: Trade deficit sets another record Thanks CAFTA, NAFTA& W

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/bu ... 138033.htm

Posted on Fri, Nov. 11, 2005


Trade deficit sets another record

The Commerce Department reported that the deficit jumped to $66.1 billion in September. It was a far bigger increase than analysts had been expecting and reflected in part a record in oil purchases.

WASHINGTON - (AP) -- The trade deficit soared to a record in September as the Gulf Coast hurricanes helped push America's foreign oil bill to an all-time high. The politically sensitive deficit with China also set a record.

The Commerce Department reported Thursday that the deficit jumped to $66.1 billion in September, 11.4 percent higher than the $59.3 billion imbalance recorded in August. It was a far bigger increase than analysts had been expecting and reflected in part a record $23.8 billion in oil purchases as the price skyrocketed after widespread shutdowns of production facilities following hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

So far this year, the deficit is running at an annual rate of $706.4 billion. This puts the country on track to far surpass the deficit record of $617.6 billion set last year and gives critics ammunition to argue that President Bush's trade policies are not working.

The 11.4 percent increase in the deficit reflected the fact that imports jumped by 2.4 percent to a record $171.3 billion in September, driven by the higher oil bill and a big increase in imports of consumer goods such as televisions, clothing and toys.

U.S. exports actually fell by 2.6 percent to $105.2 billion in September, the biggest monthly decline in four years. However, analysts cautioned that the drop-off was heavily influenced by a strike at aircraft-maker Boeing that sharply curtailed shipments of jetliners during the month.

The deficit with China jumped by 8.9 percent during the month to a record $20.1 billion and through September is running at an annual rate approaching $200 billion, far above last year's record deficit of $162 billion, which was the highest imbalance ever recorded with a single country.

The increase of 21,000 hurricane-related jobless claims came out of a total of 326,000 new applications for jobless benefits filed last week, an increase of 2,000 from the previous week. That was a worse-than-expected showing. Analysts had been expecting overall claims to decline last week.

The soaring deficit with China has increased calls in Congress for the administration to take action against what critics complain are China's unfair trade practices such as manipulating its currency to gain trade advantages, rampant piracy of American movies and other copyrighted material and state support to the country's textile industry.

On Tuesday, the administration announced that it had reached a three-year agreement with China to limit imports of clothing and textiles, something that the U.S. industry said was desperately needed to halt a surge that began in early January and has already cost thousands of American textile jobs.

The figures for September showed that a series of ''safeguard'' quotas that the administration has been imposing on various categories of Chinese imports had resulted in a 5.2 percent drop in imports of Chinese clothing and textiles in September, when compared to August.

However, these shipments were still up by 50.4 percent for the first nine months of this year.

The politically sensitive deficit with China also set a record.

"Politically sensitive deficit with China"

What is politically sensitive about this deficit in particular?

Oooh....right.....they're COMMUNISTS!!!

Close the door; shut them out; they've got more people than we do so they've got their own market to develop, supply and service.

We've got ours.

D I V O R C E C H I N A

Reason: No fault. Irreconcilable Differences. We're Free. They Aren't. We're Honest. They Cheat. We're Friendly. They're Pointing Nuclear Missiles At Us and Threatening to Use Them If We Defend Taiwan. We Buy Their Stuff. They Don't Buy Ours. They Hoard Our Dollars and Try to Buy Our Companies. GET RID OF CHINA.

Bottom-Line: Trade Policy Offers No Benefit for US Citizens.

Future Trade Policy: If It Doesn't Make US Money, We're Not Interested.

And I am unanimous in that.

That reminds me of one of Lou's polls this past week that addressed just that issue!! I will try to find it! Anyway, three different people in power were asked about the burgeoning deficit with China and Sen. Dorgan said it was "Devastating", one other Senator said it was "Shameful" and BUSH said it was "BOTHERSOME"!!! LEMME FIND IT!

Here is the question:


A reminder to vote in our poll. Who do you think most accurately described our staggering new record trade deficit? Congressman Brown with shameful, Senator Dorgan with devastating, or President Bush with bothersome. Cast your vote at loudobbs.com. We'll have the results coming right up.

And, the results:

And now, also important to this audience, the results of our poll. Thirty -- 22 percent of you say Congressman Sherrod Brown most accurately describes the staggering new record trade deficit as shameful, 73 percent of you say Sen. Byron Dorgan is the winner -- devastating.

I guess that means that 5% voted for Bush's "Bothersome"!

The 5% are his BushBelievers alias Globalists. Well, even THAT's shrinking fast!!

They sure are. That's MINIMAL to say the least.