|
|
Trading in Darkness
Like the guys over there say, trade deficit? What trade deficit?
I read through it and, economic expert that I am, what the originating authors seem to have done is proposed a method to account for what everyone sees as an important but unaccountable sector of the US economy... services. It's not the things we sell or buy, it's what we know, how we do things, what risks we're willing to take and what risks other people won't. The results of this accounting may surprise you.
All the talk of trade deficits are just attempts to attach precise numbers to a simple question: "Do we need their stuff more than they need ours, or vice versa?"
It's a more important question than it sounds, especially for international diplomacy. Ultimately, though, for those who like to juggle the numbers to make it look like the US is sucking the economic life blood out of the entire world and giving nothing in return, we always have the ultimate comeback; "How about we stop trading with you, and see which of us suffers more?"
This inevitably leads to desperate pleas not to impose such sanctions, or threats of war if we do.
They know where everything that makes life worth living comes from, even if they would rather die than admit it.
Posted by: Tatterdemalian on August 4, 2006 11:41 AM